Third-Place Jantzen Wrestling’s Lone Star in Vegas

Junior co-captain Jesse Jantzen placed third at this weekend‘s highly competitive Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, but the Harvard wrestling team felt it turned in a disappointing performance overall.

The invitational is one of the premier tournaments of the year and features such national powerhouses as No. 3 Minnesota, No. 5 Ohio State and No. 6 Michigan. No. 25 Harvard (Wrestling Mall Div. I rankings) is one of only two Ivy League schools that competed in the tournament.

Only one Crimson wrestler other than Jantzen—freshman Mike Baria (141 lbs.)—advanced to even the third round.

“For most guys on the team, we didn’t get the results we wanted, as far as wins and losses,” senior Pat O’Donnell said.

Third-ranked Jantzen (149 lbs.) was one of the few highlights for the Crimson. He dominated the competition, recording two major decisions, two technical falls and one pin to finish the tournament 6-1.

Jantzen’s only loss of the weekend came against No. 2 Eric Larkin of Arizona State in the semifinals, 10-4.

Jantzen’s loss eliminated him from the championship match and forced a consolation round battle against No. 5 Collin Robertson. Jantzen won 8-5 and qualified for the third place match.

In his final contest, Jantzen wrestled No. 14 Travis Shufelt, whom Jantzen had already defeated 10-7 in the quarterfinals. Though the pressure was higher, Jantzen remained unfazed and scored a major decision in an 11-2 victory.

Still, even a third place finish was not enough to satisfy the always competitive Jantzen, who hopes to win the national tournament in late March.

“I was definitely disappointed,” Jantzen said. “But it’s not the end of the year, so I still have time to improve.”

Though Jantzen was the top Crimson finisher, senior David Germakian (125 lbs.) was one of several Harvard wrestlers who finished the weekend on a high note.

“As far as guys that wrestled real well, he really took the next step,” O’Donnell said.

Germakian finished the weekend 4-2, winning four straight after falling 6-4 to No. 4 Jason Powell. Unfortunately, the winning streak forced Germakian to square off against Boise State’s Ben VomBaur, ranked third. VomBaur defeated Germakian, 9-0. Both VomBaur and Powell placed in the top three spots in the tournament

“[Germakian] just got a real rotten draw,” O’Donnell said.

O’Donnell wrestled well in the 174-pound weight class this weekend, scoring one of the biggest Crimson upsets.

After losing in the second round to No. 6 Travis Pascoe 11-5, O’Donnell wrestled in the consolation bracket. After winning his next two matches, O’Donnell found himself pitted against No. 20 Brady Reinke. The match was very competitive and went to overtime tied 2-2. But O’Donnell proved the stronger of the two and won the match, 6-2.

“The overtime scenario is something we practice a lot, so I feel very comfortable when I get in to overtime,” O’Donnell said. “When I get in to overtime I sort of expect to win.”

Unfortunately, O’Donnell was unable to emerge victorious in his next contest and lost 12-0, finishing the weekend unsatisfied at 4-2.

“I want to place in nationals, so I was disappointed not to place in Las Vegas,” O’Donnell said. “It’s not something I look back on with fondness.”

Though O’Donnell and many of the upperclassmen left Sin City disappointed, several of the freshmen wrestled well.

Baria won his first two matches by a total of 12 points to advance to the third round, where he lost 6-0.

Classmate Max Meltzer (133 lbs.) also turned heads, finishing the weekend 3-2. His only losses came against ranked opponents—No. 11 Urijah Faber and No. 18 Joe Malia.

“[The freshmen] are definitely going to be more motivated now, after seeing the competition,” O’Donnell said. “They’re going to have to work that much harder if they want to be All-American.”

Despite the results, the team feels that the time spent in Las Vegas was a great learning experience and remains optimistic about finishing the regular season ranked in the top ten.

“It’s still early in the year, so I don’t think it’s going to affect us that much,” Jantzen said. “We’re facing some of the top teams in the nation, and we’ve got a bunch of really young guys wrestling, so now we have an idea of how hard we need to focus.”