Jantzen Advances to Elite Eight; Brown’s Dies Next

After one day of competition in the NCAA wrestling tournament, two out of the four Harvard wrestlers remain in the championship hunt, and the team is in 25th place with 8.5 points.

Not surprisingly, No. 1 co-captain Jesse Jantzen (149 lbs.) handled his two opponents with ease. He won his first match with a technical fall in the third period and then defeated his second opponent of the day 13-6 to move into the Elite Eight.

Somewhat shocking though was freshman heavyweight Bode Ogunwole’s performance, who upset Cleveland State’s No. 9 Russ Davie, 2-0 and Fresno State’s No. 8 Clinton Walbeck, 3-2, in the next round. He will face the top seed, Ohio State’s Tommy Rowlands, in his first match today.

The other two Harvard wrestlers—co-captain Reggie Lee (197 lbs.) and sophomore Max Meltzer (141 lbs.)—were knocked down to the consolations following their losses. Lee lost his consolation match to Missouri’s Jeff Foust 3-2 and has been knocked out of the tournament.

Up next for Jantzen is Brown’s No. 9 David Dies who Jantzen has already met this year—once during the regular season and then again in the EIWA championship—and beaten twice. Should he win that bout, he will wrestle the winner of the match between Lock Haven’s No. 12 Mike Maney and Michigan’s No. 4 Ryan Churella. Jantzen pinned Churella earlier in the year but has not faced Maney.

Oklahoma State’s Zack Esposito is also still in the tournament, and would likely meet Jantzen in the championship bout, should the wrestlers make it that far.

Meanwhile, Meltzer can only advance now through the consolation rounds. Meltzer will wrestle against Lehigh’s No. 9 Cory Cooperman—whom Meltzer lost to earlier in the year—today.