Champ From The Get-Go

The Athlete of the Week distinction is reserved for a Harvard competitor who excels in a given time frame, standing out among seven days’ worth of effort across all sports. But wrestling co-captain J.P. O’Connor has not limited his brilliance to periodic outbursts. The career wins leader in program history has been the definition of consistency, translating a record-setting freshman campaign into four years of sustained excellence, overcoming injuries and setbacks in the process. This week, O’Connor simply vaulted the last hurdle—adding a national championship title at 157 lbs. on Saturday after coming so close in previous years.

“I truly believed sophomore and junior year I could win it…so [losing back then] hurt a lot,” said O’Connor in his post-match press conference. “But I tried to turn it into a positive…This year I did a much better job of pushing [negative thoughts] away, just reminding myself that I’m the best guy in the country.”

With a 6-4 victory over No. 7 Chase Pami of Cal Poly in the finals of the NCAA wrestling championships, the Crimson senior capped a strong tournament run—in which he outscored opponents, 51-10—by earning the third national title in Harvard history and leaving little doubt about his No. 1 ranking. In addition, O’Connor (35-0) hangs up the Harvard singlet as the owner of the only undefeated season in program history, bolstering a 132-16 mark that ties the Oxford, N.Y. native with Jesse Jantzen ’04 (132-13) atop the program list.

“Jesse is a New York guy too…so his name has been in my mind for a long time now,” O’Connor said. “As great of a wrestler as he is, he’s an unbelievable guy too…I’m so happy to even be mentioned next to Jesse.”

Yet with all the accolades—add three All-American nods, two Ivy League Wrestler of the Year honors, and an EIWA championship to the list—O’Connor’s greatest accomplishment may be the mark that the co-captain leaves on Crimson wrestling as a mentor and a model of hard work.

“J.P. is a great leader,” said freshman Adam Hogue, O’Connor’s wrestling partner in practice. “We just kind of see him as another guy on the team, but at the same time everybody looks up to him.”

And this admiration for Harvard’s co-captain stems not just from his good nature, but also from his lead-by-example attitude on the mat.

“J.P. is very tenacious, always in your face,” Hogue added. “He’s as well conditioned as anybody else in the room and he doesn’t ever stop.”

This constantly running motor hasn’t just helped in college; it may have been the key to building O’Connor’s interest in wrestling from the outset—when the grappler’s 3rd-grade PE teacher noted the future star’s potential.

“I randomly got pushed into this sport by my primary school gym teacher—he was the varsity wrestling coach,” O’Connor explained. “He must have recognized that I was a tough little crab running around in PE class. He said, ‘Why don’t you come be [the wrestling team] manager?’”

Soon enough, the seven-year old O’Connor was smitten, and he embarked on a path that would conclude under the lights of the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb., where over 15,000 fans—including his parents—witnessed perfection.

“I’m so fortunate to have the family that I do,” O’Connor said. “They traveled around with me all over the country [when I was younger], so I owe a lot to them.”

Co-captain Louis Caputo was also among those left marveling at O’Connor’s feat.

“Nothing could have made me feel better than watching him wrestle the best he’s ever wrestled,” Caputo said. “[O’Connor] deserves everything he gets and more. I was just thrilled.”

By tearing through a 33-man field that pitted him against Iowa’s Jake Kerr, No. 5 Steve Fittery of American University, and longtime nemesis Pami, O’Connor concluded his collegiate career at the top of his game. But the three-time All-American isn’t ready to hang up the singlet for good—not when it’s been over a year since his last defeat. Instead, O’Connor is prepared to take his effort to the next level on the international stage.

“I’d love to [keep wrestling],” he said. “I can’t think of anything better than representing the Unites States of America in a world championship or an Olympic championship, so I’m going to push and train while my body still allows me—at least through 2012.”

Any more time spent training does not bode well for O’Connor’s opponents. After four years of sustained brilliance, the Crimson superstar—at last a national champion—has shown no signs of slowing down.

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