Harvard Wrestling Pushes Forward with Four Placers at the Keystone Classic

Harvard wrestling took another step forward early in its season on Sunday at the Keystone Classic, where four Crimson wrestlers broke through to placing finishes led by captain Jimmy Harrington’s runner-up performance in the 157-lb weight class.

Competing again two weeks after an encouraging season opener at the Journeyman Collegiate Classic, Harvard picked up 20 individual wins across the classes in a field stacked with nationally competitive lineups, including returning NCAA qualifiers and top-ranked teams.

Harrington, building on his Ivy League Wrestler of the Week honors from earlier this month, sailed through the early rounds, kicking off his day with a dominant 9-0 major decision over Hofstra’s Chase Hontz before grinding out a controlled 6-3 win over Lock Haven’s Chase Burke. He followed with a 10-4 decision over Michigan State’s No. 7 seed Darius Marines before punching through a 15-3 major decision against Rutgers’ No. 3 seed Anthony White in the semifinals. The captain's dominant run ended in a fall in the first period of the finals against fellow 2025 NCAA qualifier Jude Swisher, who was wrestling at the No. 1 seed for Penn.

“That’s just not how I want to wrestle,” said Harrington about his struggle in the final match. “I think making the hand fight my own and wrestling my match as opposed to reacting to what my opponent’s doing is how I want to wrestle and an adjustment I’m going to make moving forward.”

Another dynamic performance of the day came from junior Joseph Cangro in the 165-lb bracket, where he wrestled to a fourth-place finish while recording one of Harvard’s three pins. Cangro opened with an 8-2 victory over Central Michigan’s No. 3 seed and returning NCAA qualifier Chandler Amaker, followed by a quick pin over Lock Haven’s JT Hogan, then marched into the semifinals off a 9-4 decision against Drexel’s No. 6 seed Cody Walsh. He dropped his final two bouts to Penn and Rutgers, going 3-2 on the day.

Junior Matt Walsh, at 184 pounds, delivered one of the most resilient performances of the day, battling back through the consolation bracket to seize the sixth-place finish. After opening with a 6-0 win over Rutgers’ Damian Weaver and suffering a narrow loss in the round of 16, Walsh pulled off three straight victories including an 11-1 major decision over Penn’s Greyson Meak and a razor-thin 1-0 shutout against Michigan State’s Ryan Boucher before ultimately falling in the fifth-place match to CMU’s Adrien Cramer to place sixth in his class.

Rounding out the Crimson’s placers for the day was senior Dante Frinzi, who ended up in the seventh-place spot at 141 pounds. Highlights of his day include a quick pin over Virginia Tech’s Drew Gorman, a 5-2 victory over Michigan State’s Jace Morgan, and an upset over Franklin & Marshall’s No. 4 seed Bryce Kesho with an 8-6 decision in the placement match.

Other notable performances of the day include sophomore Haden Bottiglieri and junior Daniel Bittner, who each contributed two victories, highlighted by Bottiglieri’s fall in the 174-lb class and Bittner’s decisions in the 285-lb bracket. Sophomore Logan Brzozowski also delivered an 11-1 major decision at 125 pounds while freshman Sid Tildsley piled on another win for the Crimson at 141 pounds.

As a team, Harvard finished 10th overall with 58.5 points across its competing athletes, a result the team is likely hoping to build on as it continues through the remaining tournaments of the season and gears up for the dual season.

“I think our team’s doing a good job where we’re evidently getting better every week, and that’s going to show,” Harrington said. “I think we have a super motivated group of guys and we’re having a lot of fun with this.”

The Crimson will compete next at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on Dec. 5 and 6, facing one of the strongest tournament fields in the nation.