Lady Luck Uncooperative As Wrestlers Fall Victim To Poorly Conditioned Penn

Someone on the Harvard wrestling team must have had a run-in with Lady Luck recently because she was definitely uncooperative Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia as the Crimson matmen last a disheartening 19-15 decision to a poorly conditioned Penn team.

Misfortune struck in crucial bouts at 118 and 167 when what seemed to be a Harvard tie and a Harvard victory were converted into two Penn victories.

Harvard senior Tom Schnorr was tied with Ted Esterson at 118 with one second left on the clock, but Esterson escaped Schnorr's hold for one point and won the bout, 3-2.

Then, after the Crimson had pulled to within three points of the Quakers on the wake of strong performances by Dean Sheppard and Colin Mangrum. Penn's Don Ingham stole a 6-5 decision from Bart Harvey at 167 to reestablish the Penn bulge, 14-8.

With ingham leading by one point with ten seconds to go in the bout, Harvey shot for what appeared to be a take-down. But as he tried to stretch the takedown into a near-fall. Harvey failed to exhibit control and the takedown was negated.

Very Discouraging

"It was a very discouraging defeat-a tough one to lose." Harvard coach John Lee said of the match. "You hate to lose to a team that's not in shape, especially when your kids wrestle well."

And wrestle well they did. Captain Paul Catinella fought the Quaker's co-captain. Ron White, to a gruelling 1-1 tie at 131 in a bout that could have gone either way. The best performances, however, came from juniors Shoppard and Mangrum.

In what had to be an upset. Sheppard blitzed undefeated Bob Sokoloff. 7-0, in their bout at 150. Sokoloff, whose only loss in a 10-1 season last year was to Pat Coleman, was beaten in every phase by a determined Sheppard.

After falling behind. 4-0, Mangrum stormed back for a convincing 10-4 win in the next bout at 158. The victory marked Mangrum's return to action after a two-week layoff, and more importantly, put the Crimson within striking distance again. 11-8.

Luckless

But Harvey's luckless defeat padded the Quakers' lead, and a pin by undefeated Mark Faller at 177 was counterbalanced by Dave Pottruck's 4-2 win over the Crimson's Tony Rayner, who wrestled in place of Dave Scanlon, at 190. Jim Abbott needed a pin at unlimited to tie the match, but Bob Kaufman played possum and salvaged a 1-1 tie.

Thinking it over yesterday, Lee said. "I do think we had a better team than Penn, but it's the bottom line that counts." And so it does: rather than being tied for second with Penn, the Crimson must now battle Yale for fourth place Saturday in the IAB.