Three Matmen Win District Titles

Three out of four Harvard wrestlers won NCAA District I Championships last night in the IAB and thus qualified for the National Final Championships in two weeks at Auburn, Ala.

Captain Pat Coleman, Mark Faller, and Rich Starr were all impressive last night just as they had been in the afternoon preliminaries. The other Harvard entrant, Collin Mangrum, was eliminated in an opening round bout.

Coleman, wrestling at 142 pounds, pinned his afternoon opponent, Stu Morrison of New Hampshire, at 5:40. He returned last night to face Massachusetts' Clay Jester. After a scoreless first period, Coleman shot out to a 8-4 lead before converting a mistake by his foe into a fall at 5:19.

"We were both down, and he tried a Gambee Roll," Coleman said. "He did it too slowly and I just held on. He was right on his back and that was it."

Without a doubt, the most exciting and powerful performance of the night was senior Mark Faller's championship match against New Hampshire's Charles Baurer. Faller had already demolished Jim Miller of Brown, 20-4, in the preliminaries.

Faller, who finished the year with a 13-2-1 dual meet record, exploded quickly and never let off the pressure until he pinned Baurer after only 76 seconds. It was possibly his best effort of the year as he was truly superb. A devastating "double" pancake was his pinning maneuver. "I felt really good at 158 today." Faller said later. "Quick and strong."

At 177 pounds, Starr, who destroyed his afternoon foe, 13-3, moved to a quick 6-2 advantage in his title bout with Massachusetts' George Zguris. In the final period, Zguris rallied to a 8-8 tie before Starr executed an escape and a takedown and held on to nab a 11-10 decision.