Improved Varsity Wrestling Team Defeats M.I.T., 29-2

Coach Bob Pickett's varsity wrestlers showed the benefit of a two-week rest since their season-opening win against Amherst last night, as they crushed a highly-touted though not favored M.I.T. squad, 29 to 2. The Crimson scored on two falls, four decisions, a forfeit and a draw that gave Tech its only points.

The decisive Crimson victory cleared some of the doubts raised in the Lord Jeff encounter, which the varsity won on a forfeit. The most positive answer was Pete Morrison's first bout of the year in the unlimited class. Morrison's 245 pounds took only 2.23 of the first period to flatten Tech's Ken Jones under an arm-lock body press.

Less spectacular was John Winthrop's pin in the 130 class. Winthrop was shut out in the Amherst match, but recovered from a slow start to score heavily against M.I.T.'s Ortler, on an escape.

Of the decisions, in a flip-flopping score-um-up at the 147 class, Captain Phil Burnaman managed his second win of the season and just missed his second pin, outpointing M.I.T.'s Hyman, 14 to 10. Burnaman's victory method stood in sharp contrast with that of the other three who won on points.

Bob Gilmor (177) bounced back from a 7-5 loss in the Amherst meet by shutting out Vertin, 4 to 0, and Tatsuo Arima (123), also defeated by the Jeffs, showed much improved condition in riding Tech's Boese to a 4-1 victory. The Crimson's third decision was Dick Hook's second win of the season, this time 8 to 1 over Hirschi.

The forfeit came, opportunely for the varsity, at 137. Ed Keating, who won his Amherst bout, was not scheduled to start due to injuries. Pete Hiam was to replace him.

Tech's only score came when time advantage failed to break a 4-4 points-deadlock between Joe Goodman and Mike Brenner of M.I.T., in the 167 class. Goodman was in the line-up to replace Charlie Harding, out with a bruised rib.

The Yardlings mopped up the Jayvees 19 to 7 in a family squabble preceding the varsity match.

The MIT contest is the varsity's last before the Christmas recess; on Jan. 14 the Crimson will go to Ithaca to meet Cornell for its first match in the newly formed Ivy Wrestling League. Also in the league are Brown, Columbia, Penn, Princeton, and Yale.