Wrestling Falls at Sprawl & Brawl

Sometimes you have to play the best to be the best.

Harvard wrestling hopes it can get there, but for now there is still a steep hill to climb. The Crimson (0-3) traveled to Binghamton, N.Y. yesterday for the Journeyman Sprawl & Brawl, a dual tournament featuring some of the country’s top teams. Harvard dropped its matches to No. 6 Penn State (5-0), Michigan State (3-0), and Eastern Michigan, and even though the squad vastly improved throughout the day, Crimson coach Jay Weiss said he saw room to get better.

“Obviously, we scheduled high, and we do that to get our guys to stretch themselves and see where they need to be,” Weiss said. “We said, ‘Let’s go after it, and hopefully you guys can wrestle hard.’ But that didn’t happen in the first match. We just didn’t wrestle well top to bottom.”

Harvard opened the day with a 45-0 loss to Penn State, but followed up with a pair of individual wins in a 31-10 loss to Michigan State, and nearly topped Eastern Michigan in a 24-22 defeat.

“I thought we did better as we went through,” Weiss said. “Some indivduals did well and some didn’t, and we’ll be able to go back and really focus on one of our biggest tournaments coming up in Vegas [in two weeks].”

EASTERN MICHIGAN 24, HARVARD 22

The Crimson nearly closed out its day with a victory, splitting its 10 bouts evenly with Eastern Michigan. But the Eagles won all five of their matches by bonus points, marking the difference in an otherwise even match.

“We lost by two points, and we could have found two points somewhere in that match,” Weiss said. “You’ve got to win those bouts and have everybody step up.”

The matchup started promisingly enough for Harvard, which enjoyed a 6-0 lead after a forfeit at 125 pounds. But sophomore Steven Keith, who moved up a weight class to 133, could not keep pace with his larger opponent, dropping a major decision, 14-6.

Harvard’s middle weights, traditionally a strength, proved dominant against the Eagles, as junior Corey Jantzen, junior co-captain Walter Peppelman, and sophomore Adam Hogue reeled off three straight victories to put the Crimson up, 18-8.

Jantzen in particular earned praise from his coach for recovering after a tough opening bout.

“The big thing for Corey is that he had to get better at bouncing back, and he sure did [yesterday],” Weiss said. “He didn’t feel great physically today, but he bounced back in his second and third matches, and to me that’s a huge milestone.”

Unfortunately for Harvard, the gutsy effort would not prove good enough. After the teams traded major decisions at 174 and 184—with rookie Cameron Croy getting his first collegiate dual win in the latter—the Eagles rode a fall at 197 and a forfeit at heavyweight to the narrow victory.

MICHIGAN STATE 31, HARVARD 10

In the middle of three matches with no break in between, the Crimson could have easily wilted against the Spartans. Instead, Harvard hung in against the Big 10 squad, notching a trio of victories to keep the bout close early on.

Keith earned his lone win of the day with a 5-2 decision over Eric Olanowski, and No. 9 Jantzen followed at 149 with an 11-2 bonus-point victory.

Jantzen’s solid performance paved the way for classmate Peppelman (157), who notched the marquee win of the day by topping 14th-ranked David Cheza, 3-0. Peppelman earned points early from the top position and played solid defense to shut out his opponent.

“[Peppelman] controlled the pace,” Weiss said. “Once you have that lead you can wrestle a different match, and he stayed in position and just looked for the other guy’s mistakes.”

Still, the co-captain felt he had a ways to go before reaching his potential.

“I thought I wrestled hard, and obviously I was happy that I won...but I would have liked to wrestle better,” Peppelman said.

So too would the rest of the team against the Spartans. Harvard dropped its remaining four bouts and ceded the heavyweight forfeit, turning a close match into a 21-point loss.

NO. 6 PENN STATE 45, HARVARD 0

The Crimson opened the day with a difficult task, challenging the sixth-ranked Nittany Lions. Although Weiss did not expect Harvard to keep pace with a Penn State squad boasting six grapplers in the top 15, the coach showed disappointment in his team’s lack of discipline.

“I think what’s upsetting is we focus and put a game plan in, and then we watch and it’s not even being played [out],” Weiss said of the first match.

Penn State cruised through the 10-bout slate, with only Jantzen and Hogue staying within three points of their respective opponents. Perhaps the toughest assignment of the day, though, came for junior Bryan Panzano, who moved up two weight classes to 197. The third-year wrestler went 0-3 on the day as he continues to adjust to a new position.

“Bryan Panzano was our unsung hero,” Peppelman said. “We had a 197-pounder leave the team, and [Panzano] was at 174, so he’s still underweight. His effort was phenomenal.”

—Staff writer Max N. Brondfield can be reached at mbrondf@fas.harvard.edu.