Wrestling Drops Final Home Meet to Columbia

It was a disappointing Friday night for Harvard wrestling, as the squad dropped its final home meet of the season to Columbia at the Malkin Athletic Center, 27-12. With this loss, the Crimson moves on to a 3-8 overall record on the year.

“We had a lot of guys out of the lineup because of injuries, so I knew we would need a special effort to win,” Harvard Coach Jay Weiss said. “We had to bump up some guys to higher classes, and I hate doing that, but those guys did it and fought hard out there, which was exciting. I saw some good things, but I also saw some things that really need to be fixed quickly.”

For the 11th straight meet, the Crimson began the meet with a forfeit in the 125-pound weight class position, beginning the match with an immediate deficit.

“Obviously it’s been frustrating having so many guys out with injuries this season,” Weiss said. “It’s unfortunate for us that Eastern’s will probably be the first time we have our full lineup out there on the mat.”

Junior Josh Popple, who has spent the season battling injuries, repeated last week’s winning performance, fighting through a gritty match with Columbia’s Zack Hernandez at 184. Popple was outmaneuvered the entire first half of the match, but managed to turn the momentum at the midway point, eventually taking down Hernandez to notch the only Harvard pin of the day.

“If you look back at the last couple weeks with Josh, he’s been through a lot,” Weiss said. “We had to bump him up to 197 with James out with a concussion, and he came out huge and got a win for us and did the same thing this week. He’s a dangerous wrestler. He got that guy on his back, and that was huge for us.”

The comeback effort was Popple’s third consecutive win since his return to action.

“Being down, two-nothing, was something that I just couldn’t let get into my head,” Popple said. “I fought through it, getting him on his back, and you can’t ask for anything better than that really.”

Another notable performance on the day came from junior Pappy Hogan, who managed to snag a victory over the Lions’ Connor Sutton, 4-3, in his first match back from an injury.

“Pappy was just dealt a bad hand this whole year with injuries and illness last semester,” Weiss said. “He’s really just been fighting for his health to get back into the lineup, and he had a huge match last night. We needed him, and so its great for him to get to start to put things back together after such a frustrating season.”

Much like Popple, Hogan’s match was a comeback effort. After a tough start, the junior turned the tables later on in the contest.

“Getting a two-point turn in the third period there was a huge moment for him,” Popple said. “ He hadn’t gotten many of those this year, and it was definitely the deciding point for him in the match.”

For the Crimson, it was co-captain Todd Preston that first got Harvard on the board. Throughout the dual meet season, Preston has maintained an undefeated record, the first Harvard wrestler since 2013 to achieve this, and the match against Columbia was no different. Preston fought through a close match with the Lions’ Matt Leshinger, outmaneuvering his opponent to register the win, 5-2.

“He’s someone who has been a leader from day one,” Weiss said. “I don’t think he’s wrestled his best, and I know that he was at this time last year. He kept his composure and did some nice things last night.”

For the Crimson, Preston, Hogan and Popple were the only three to notch wins on the day.

“It comes down to execution,” Weiss said. “There were some mental lapses and mistakes that we’ve been making, and we can’t afford to make a mistake in a seven minute match. I thought we outwrestled Columbia, but those little mistakes cost us, and we’ve got to figure that out.”

—Staff Writer Jillian Dukes can be reached at jdukes01@college.harvard.edu.