Athlete of the Week: Fox's Pin Propels Wrestling to Victory

In the latest installment of the crosstown rivalry between the Harvard and Boston University wrestling teams, the second half of the Crimson lineup strung together four consecutive wins to lead the team to a 23-15 dual meet victory, its second in four games, at the Malkin Athletic Center on Saturday.

The comeback may have been a team effort, but no match was more crucial than junior co-captain James Fox’s first period pin of BU’s Kristian Meyer in the penultimate battle of the day.

With Harvard trailing, 15-14, to the Terriers, Fox knew the importance of his match.

With the heavyweight bout on deck, the two-time NCAA qualifier believed he had to not only win, but also dominate.

After losing four of the first six matches of the day, Harvard found itself behind, 15-6, with only four bouts remaining in the match. The lightweights struggled against a tough BU core led by No. 8 Nestor Taffur, giving up three major decisions.

None of the Crimson lightweights were pinned, however, and they kept the match within reach. And in dominant fashion—punctuated by the performance of Fox—Harvard’s heavyweights stormed back and took control of the match for good.

Freshman 174-pounder Eric Morris and co-captain 187-pounder Cameron Croy both picked up major decisions, 11-0 and 16-5, respectively, to bring the Crimson back into the match with two bouts to go.

Down just one point in the team score, it was now Fox’s turn.

“We knew [coming in] our upper weights would have to get major points because the lower weights were going to have a tough time against BU,” Fox said. “I told myself I needed a major here.”

Fox did just that. After taking down Meyer twice seemingly at will in the first period, he was able to sink in a deep hammerlock.

After nearly going out of bounds in the process of turning the Terrier, the 197-pounder kept one foot inbounds and dragged his opponent back into the ring.

Fox finished Meyer off by earning a quick pin with five seconds left in the period, igniting huge applause from both his team and the near-capacity MAC.

“I [thought] I had to get this guy in and settle down,” Fox said. “Last week I got in a similar position and couldn’t finish. After the match, I talked to my mom and she [said], ‘You need to settle.’”

The advice worked, and the pin gave Harvard a commanding 20-15 lead going into the last match. Sophomore heavyweight Nick Gajdzik was thankful for the cushion.

“Gajdzik came up to me after and [told me], ‘thanks for putting that out of reach,’” Fox said.

In his previous match at 197 lbs., one week ago against No. 6 Cornell, Fox was one of two Crimson wrestlers to earn victories against the Big Red. But while Fox had the opportunity to pin his opponent, he was unable to notch the decisive fall.

He secured that pin this time around. Indeed, Fox’s eighth victory of the season gave his team much-needed momentum heading into the final matchup of the afternoon.

“Fox is an amazing wrestler,” Gajdzik said. “His pin was huge. It gave us six points in the team score, so when I went out there to wrestle, I basically had to not get pinned.”

Even though he only had to avoid a pin for Harvard to win the dual meet, the heavyweight pulled off an overtime decision, 3-1, against BU senior Kevin Innis.

After grinding out three periods, the match was tied, 1-1, going into overtime.

Gajdzik countered a quick shot from Innis and got behind for a match-winning takedown.

“The guy I wrestled was a really solid wrestler,” Gajdzik said. “The mentality I tried to go out with is [that] every match is winnable. You have to wrestle your match.”

The Crimson will hold the Charles Cup, the trophy awarded to the victor of the rivalry for the foreseeable future, as Boston University’s wrestling program, which currently sits four games below .500, was cut for next season to free up funding for other programs.

After losing the cup for three straight years, Harvard has most recently won it in back-to-back seasons.

“BU is one of our rivals, and we battle for the Charles Cup,” said Fox. “Since wrestling is getting cut, we wanted to win the final Cup.”

In addition to the hardware, the victory has given the Crimson confidence as the team heads towards the meat of its schedule. Harvard is now 3-4 in dual meets after posting an 8-5 record last year.

“This win is huge. BU is a very good team, and I think it legitimizes what we are doing,” Gajdzik said. “That’s the kind of energy we need to push us forward for the rest of the season. It showed that we are going to be ready for the postseason.”

—Staff writer Jacob W. Lynch can be reached at jacoblync@gmail.com.