Despite Preston’s Absence, Wrestling Defeats First EIWA Foe

With junior Robbie Preston still absent from its lineup, the Harvard wrestling team emerged from competition this weekend at the Malkin Athletic Center with a less than desirable won-loss record.

But more importantly, the Crimson’s sparkling individual performances helped the team gain a renewed confidence in its chances at the EIWA and NCAA tournaments, which will take place in approximately a month.

“It’s hard because we’re forfeiting in two weight classes,” Harvard Coach Jay Weiss said. “You take the forfeits away and we wrestled 18-18 against Penn, and they’re a good team. We had some big individual match-ups against Penn and we won every one of them. In fact, we were in that bout all the way up to [the 197 lbs. match], so I think we’re doing the right things.”

PENN 30, HARVARD 18; AMERICAN 24, HARVARD 19

In dual meets against No. 22 Penn and American Saturday at the MAC, Harvard (2-7, 1-4 EIWA) held its own despite Preston’s absence, winning half of the contested matches on the afternoon. Freshmen Andrew Flanagan (157 lbs.) and Louis Caputo (184 lbs.) each went 2-0 in their bouts, and junior tri-captain Bode Ogunwole (heavyweight), ranked seventh in the nation, finished the day for the Crimson with an impressive 4-3 victory in overtime against No. 13 Adam LoPiccolo of the Eagles.

In the first bout against the Quakers (9-3, 2-0 EIWA), with Harvard having forfeited in the first two weight classes, junior tri-captain Max Meltzer (141 lbs.), ranked No. 14 in the nation, put the Crimson on the scoreboard with an 8-3 decision against Cesar Grajales.

Following sophomore Matt Button’s (149 lbs.) loss in a major decision to Matt Dragon of Penn, Flanagan pinned No. 20 Gene Zannetti in 3:25—his second win of the season against the ranked Penn Quaker.

After freshmen Patrick Ziemnik (165 lbs.) and Wesley Walker (174 lbs.) lost by a technical fall and a pin, respectively, Caputo continued his success against Dustin Wiles in a 9-7 decision, having beaten him at Las Vegas earlier this season.

Sophomore Billy Colgan (197 lbs.) fell in an 8-1 decision to Paul Velekei before Ogunwole pinned Jayson Bowlsby in 3:42.

At the end of the day, Ogunwole had extended his winning streak to eight and improved his individual record to 15-5 on the season.

In Harvard’s match against American, the Crimson forfeited the first two bouts and the Eagles forfeited the third bout. With the forfeit win, Meltzer improved his perfect record after coming back from his injury to 8-0.

“[Meltzer’s] still getting in match time shape because he missed the entire first semester,” Weiss said. “So he’s going to be an even better wrestler in three weeks. He’s been a great leader as well. Getting him back on the mat was more than just getting points on the scoreboard.”

No. 4 Muzaffar Abdurakhamov of American pinned Ziemnik in 0:14 in the 165 lbs. bout and Tyler Flatt defeated Colgan in an 8-4 decision, setting up the stage for Ogunwole’s match against LoPiccolo.

In the heavyweight match, the score was tied 1-1 after regulation.

In overtime, the two wrestlers traded points before LoPiccolo took a lead on an escape, 3-2. Ogunwole responded by recording a takedown for two points and kept LoPiccolo down until the period expired.

“We knew that was a big one and we prepared for it all week,” Weiss said. “Bode has got a lot of guts, a lot of courage.”

“I felt really tired towards the end of regulation,” Ogunwole said. “But I knew I needed the points for my team and I needed to step it up. We’ve been in that situation plenty of times in practice, so I knew that I could do it if I try. I saw him leaning forward a lot, knew he was really tired. So I just stayed up close, grabbed one of his feet and I got lucky.”

HARVARD 31, PRINCETON 13

In its Ivy League opener, the Crimson recorded two pins and a major decision against the Tigers (8-5, 0-4 EIWA) en route to its first EIWA win of the season.

After a forfeit by Harvard at 125 lbs. and a no-contest at 133 lbs., the Crimson rolled to a 19-6 lead with four straight victories.

Meltzer had an 18-5 major decision against Eric Marcotulli and Latessa pinned Andrew Sichel in 4:25. Flanagan needed only 1:38 to pin John Clare before tri-captain Mike Baria (165 lbs.) wrestled to a 4-2 decision win against Martin Everin.

Matt DiNichilo of Princeton defeated sophomore Joseph Bechtold in a 9-0 major decision and Jake Butler out-wrestled Colgan on his way to a 7-3 decision win.

Caputo and Ogunwole picked up wins by forfeit.

Harvard continues its busy schedule by hosting its last home meet of the season at the MAC against Boston University in a 7 p.m. match on Friday. Preston’s return to the lineup is once again anticipated.

“We’re going to try again,” Weiss said. “We tried this week and he just wasn’t ready yet. We’re going to wait and see in this week’s practice. We can’t rush him back too soon, though. He’s too important.”

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