Wrestling Faces Forfeits, Injuries

The Harvard wrestling team played host to Lehigh and Army in its home opener Saturday at the Malkin Athletic Center, and emerged winless in the midst of an already rough start to the season.

The Crimson (1-5, 0-2 EIWA) could not overcome numerous injuries and had to forfeit its matches at 125 lbs. and 133 lbs. No. 14-ranked Lehigh defeated Harvard, 29-9, in the first match.

In this weekend’s other action for the Crimson, Army rolled to a 30-10 victory over the Harvard wrestlers later in the same day.

The Crimson had strong performances on Saturday by junior tri-captains Max Meltzer (141 lbs.) and Bode Ogunwole (heavyweight), who each picked up two victories on the day.

The team, however, was out-wrestled in almost all the other weight classes.

“I think it’s great that both of us got wins,” Ogunwole said. “But I think of it as more of a team effort. We’re just trying to help our team win, so even though we got wins, we wish we could’ve done more”

“We’d like our team to be healthier,” he added. “But right now, it’s not as important, just as long as we are learning from our mistakes.”

The Mountain Hawks (9-5-1, 3-1 EIWA), which has won the EIWA Championship in each of the past four years, proved a daunting opponent, and the Crimson did not help its own chances when it had to forfeit matches in the first two weight classes.

Meltzer (No. 12) defeated Matt Ennis of Lehigh in a 7-5 decision to begin the day. But in the following four bouts, the Mountain Hawks notched two major decisions against freshman Andrew Flanagan (157 lbs.) and sophomore Joseph Bechtold (174 lbs.), and also took two decision wins against sophomore Bobby Latessa (149 lbs.) and tri-captain Mike Baria (165 lbs.), en route to building an insurmountable lead.

Later, freshman Louis Caputo (184 lbs.) garnered a 9-5 decision against Brian LaMay with three takedowns.

In less favorable matches for the Crimson, sophomore Billy Colgan (197 lbs.) lost in a decision to nationally-ranked Matt Cassidy. Nevertheless, no. 8 Ogunwole gave Harvard its third and final win against Lehigh in a 7-5 decision in the heavyweight class.

In the evening match against the Black Knights (7-3-2, 5-0 EIWA), Meltzer and Ogunwole once again led the way for the Crimson.

The key duo for Harvard garnered victories in their respective weight classes, while Flanagan, now 12-9 on the year, emerged with an impressive major decision against Brian Rowan of Army. Meltzer’s victory against Whitt Dunning improved his season record to a perfect 5-0.

Sophomore Matt Button (149 lbs.), Bechtold and Cogan all lost in major decisions against the Black Knights, and Caputo and Baria lost their matches, 7-4 and 10-4, respectively. Ogunwole ended the day for Harvard with an 8-3 decision over Michael Sprigg.

Due to a leg injury in his previous bout, junior Robbie Preston (133 lbs.) sat out both matches on the day.

“He should be back next week,” Ogunwole said. “I don’t think it’s going to be a problem.”

The Crimson looks forward to Preston’s return as it continues its busy home schedule this weekend. Over the course of the opening weekend of the second term, Harvard will host Princeton on Friday night, and Ameircan and No. 22 Penn at the MAC on Saturday.

—Staff writer Tony D. Qian can be reached at tonyqian@fas.harvard.edu.