Wrestling Claims Three Titles at ESU

Despite injuries and weight fluctuations, the Harvard wrestling team opened the season strong at the East Stroudsburg Open. Senior Pat O’Donnell won the 174-pound class, while junior co-captain Jesse Jantzen and freshman J.T. Young were named co-champions at 157 lbs.

Freshmen Max Meltzer (133 lbs.) and Mike Baria (141 lbs.) placed fourth and sixth in their respective classes.

O’Donnell won in exciting fashion, defeating both his semifinal and final opponents in double-overtime.

In the semifinal, O’Donnell battled North Carolina’s Mike Canty to a 3-3 tie entering second overtime. Double-overtime is a ride-out in collegiate wrestling, meaning one wrestler begins on top and the other must attempt to escape. The man on top must hold his opponent for 30 seconds to win.

Since Canty had scored first, he was given the choice of position. Canty chose bottom, as escaping is regarded as easier than riding. Nonetheless, O’Donnell was able to hold Canty down for the 4-3 victory.

In the finals, facing the reverse situation, O’Donnell was able to escape against John Carr for the 2-1 win.

“I felt comfortable going into the ride-outs” O’Donnell said. “We work on them a lot in practice.”

For Jantzen and Young, winning the finals was considerably easier, since neither of them actually wrestled for the title.

Since both wrestlers entered at 157 pounds in opposite brackets, they and Harvard coach Jay Weiss agreed that should they meet in the final, they would not compete against each other.

“We wrestle every day in practice,” Young said.

Whereas some college students struggle with the “freshmen fifteen,” Jesse Jantzen had no trouble with the “junior eight.” Jantzen, No. 2 in the nation at 149 lbs., blitzed through his heavier opponents at 157, pinning four and winning a 19-4 technical fall en route to the finals.

“Eventually I’m going back down to 149,” Jantzen said. “I wanted to stay up [at 157] so I would not have to cut weight the whole year.”

Young was also impressive in his first collegiate tournament. In the quarterfinal, he defeated Columbia’s Dustin Tillman by medical forfeit in the first period.

“We were in a scramble position and they called a stalemate. I got up, but he wasn’t moving,” Young said. “I don’t know if he hit his head, or if it was a recurring injury or what.”

Tillman was found to be in good health, but he could not continue wrestling.

In the semifinals, Young defeated Keith Smith 6-3 on a pair of takedowns and a reverse.

Harvard’s other freshmen, Meltzer and Baria, also showed promise.

In what was generally regarded as the toughest weight class, 133 pounds, Meltzer scored a couple of falls en route to a fourth place finish.

Baria’s success was an exercise in perseverance. In the first round, he found himself on his back early, pinned by Del Val College’s Barry Wise.

“I felt pretty good, but I got caught in a move in the first minute and he pinned me,” Baria said. “I was disappointed, because I knew I was better than that, but [Coach Weiss] just told me start my day over the next match.”

Baria won five consolation victories in a row to set up a rematch with Wise.

“I went out there excited because I wanted to prove to myself that he wasn’t better than me,” Baria said.

Baria dominated the rematch and was leading 7-1 when he pinned Wise in the second period. Baria lost his final match 3-2 to Chris Smith.

The team’s main goal right now is to get healthy, but with strong performances from freshmen and veterans alike, the Crimson is optimistic about its chances at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational in December.

“This tournament was a great way for us to measure our team’s progress,” O’Donnell said. “For our first tournament, it was very promising.”

—Staff writer David A. Weinfeld can be reached at weinfeld@fas.harvard.edu.