Wrestling Bests Sacred Heart, Edged by Hofstra

Whether or not Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow on Saturday, the Harvard wrestling team knew on Friday it had only six weekends to build momentum for the EIWA Championships at Lehigh Mar. 9 and 10. While Phil was getting some rays, the team handily defeated Sacred Heart, 33-7, before being edged out 24-18 by No. 22 Hofstra later that evening.

Hofstra 24, Harvard 18

Normally, one might think that getting off a bus to wrestle one’s second match of the day against a fresh home team supported by an estimated 2,000 fans would be disheartening. The Crimson (3-4, 1-1 EIWA), though, was significantly more prepared to wrestle upon arriving in Hempstead, N.Y., than the circumstances would suggest. Indeed, Harvard had earlier weighed-in at Fairfield, so the wrestlers had plenty of time to eat and hydrate themselves. Furthermore, co-captain Dawid Rechul and sophomore Jesse Jantzen, both native Long Islanders, had brought their own contingent of supporters.

“We channeled the crowd to our advantage,” said No. 12 Rechul.

The meet began with three pivotal, “toss-up matches” at 157, 165, and 174 pounds. Although junior Robbie Griffin and sophomore P. J. Jones lost the first and third by decision, 7-3 and 3-2, respectively, those two losses were sandwiched around junior Pat O’Donnell’s defensive pin of No. 20 John Garriques at 4:09.

“When Pat is on bottom, he’s the offensive wrestler,” co-captain Kevin El-Hayek said.

At 184, with junior Reggie Lee still unable to compete due to an ankle sprain, the Crimson trotted out sophomore Brandon Kaufmann, who normally wrestles at 157 pounds and thus, by league rules, has to weigh-in at that weight every meet. Outweighed by over 25 pounds, Kaufmann was not expected to win; his day would be a success if he could stay within seven and only concede three points to the Pride (7-6, 1-0 CAA), rather than four for a major decision or six for a pin.

“I’m looking for the win, if possible, but also trying to minimize the score and keep it as close as possible,” Kaufmann said. “All it is is trying to slow down the pace of the match and not let it get out of hand.”

Ultimately, he did just that, falling 7-1.

Hofstra then extended its lead to 14-6 as No. 9 Chris Skretkowicz beat freshman Jonas Corl 16-0 at 197 pounds. Despite the loss, Corl, who was unexpectedly thrust into a starting role this year when senior Bradley Soltis chose to focus on his thesis, has a bright future ahead of him.

“He’s got the tools; he’s got the arsenal,” Rechul said. “He doesn’t have the key to access that arsenal, but I think that will come with experience and confidence.”

After a 10-minute halftime, Rechul dominated Hofstra heavyweight Matt Daddino, registering over three minutes of riding time in his 9-2 victory. However, Hofstra had scouted Rechul’s pinning combination and Rechul was unable to vary it sufficiently to record the pin.

After 125-pounder David Germakian lost to No. 16 Tom Noto by major decision, El-Hayek, whose practice time this week was limited by injury, took a 5-0 lead before pinning his 133-pound opponent, energizing the Crimson and bringing the team within three at 18-15.

At 141 pounds, Jonathan Mankovich led with only 90 seconds remaining and things looked bright for Harvard. Unfortunately, his Pride opponent pulled what Rechul referred to as a “funky move” and caught Mankovich in a defensive pin, securing the win for Hofstra.

“It’s the second week in a row that we were in a position to win late in the match and things didn’t go our way,” Coach Jay Weiss said.

Even so, virtually all of the fans chose to stay to witness the match between local hero Jesse Jantzen, the fifth-ranked 149-pounder in the country, and No. 14 Jason DeBruin. Jantzen, who went undefeated throughout his high school career and was the first four-time state champion in New York history, did not disappoint his supporters, winning 6-4.

Harvard 33, Sacred Heart 7

Earlier in the day, Harvard had prepared for the Hofstra meet with a decisive victory over Sacred Heart (5-6, 1-2 CAA).

“The Sacred Heart match was something that we used in our minds to give us the momentum we needed going into the Hofstra match,” O’Donnell said.

Despite the score, however, the Crimson was not wholly satisfied with the result.

“We went into Scared Heart and we knew they weren’t as good a team as we were. I think maybe that had something to do with a performance that was not the best we could have done. I think maybe we underestimated some weight classes,” Rechul said.

Indeed, Griffin came out slowly in the day’s first match before securing a 9-7 victory in overtime.

“It’s always tough leading off the match because you weigh in an hour before the match starts, so you have less time to recover,” O’Donnell said.

“That’s just something that comes with the territory of starting a match. I don’t think that’ll be a problem anymore after he did it twice this weekend,” Rechul added.

Following Corl’s loss to No. 15 Anthony Reynolds, the second consecutive Harvard loss up to that point, Rechul came out to face John Miller.

“I just went out there and I kind of figured the team needed a little wake-up call,” Rechul said.

That was exactly what Rechul provided, pinning Miller in just 60 seconds with his signature “crab-ride” maneuver.

“He’s just that dominating right now,” Kaufmann said.

Next weekend, the Crimson takes on Ivy rivals Penn—which traditionally fields one of the best teams in the EIWA—and Princeton, as well as Boston College. This week, the team will be working on its shot defense and scoring earlier in the match, in preparation not only for the upcoming weekend, but also for the end-of-season tournaments that loom even larger than Phil’s shadow.