Wrestling Splits With Brown, Boston U.

The weekend's conclusion brings a clean slate for the Harvard wrestling team as it finishes one chapter of its season and gets set to write another.

After a disappointing loss to Brown (9-10, 3-2 Ivy) on Friday night, the Crimson grapplers returned with a vengeance on Saturday, trouncing B.U. (6-7, 2-5 EIWA), and ending what has been a tough month of dual meets for the Crimson (8-6, 3-2 Ivy).

And although the season's record has no official bearing on the upcoming Eastern championships, the grapplers can draw from the lessons of February and enter the tournament with a thirst for revenge and a confidence that they can hold their own against anyone.

In a match similar to the bouts against Penn and Cornell, the Crimson had some great performances but was still unable to overtake Brown, falling to the Bears 22-13.

"I am disappointed," said Coach Jay Weiss. "I think we are the better team but they came to wrestle and we didn't."

After some tough matches early on, the Crimson tri-captains Dustin DeNunzio and Joel Friedman--ranked No. 7 and No. 11 in their respective weight classes--turned up the heat with back-to-back victories at 141 and 149-pounds that pulled the Crimson within one point of the Bears.

Although both matches remained scoreless for most of the first period, DeNunzio and Friedman quickly asserted control, dominating by the second period to earn matching 4-3 wins.

"He [Brown's Ernest DeLeon] wrestled pretty aggressively," Denunzio said. "Hopefully next time it will be a bigger gap."

Friedman was able to secure a victory despite wrestling with a mild concussion

Junior Kevin Kurtz, ranked No. 14 in the nation, was again a highlight for Harvard, dismantling Jesse Savage 9-0. After a takedown at the end of the first period--which put him up 2-0--Kurtz simply exploded on the mat and sailed to a victory that put the Crimson up 10-7.

However, the Crimson would then face some difficult matches, especially at 181-pounds where junior tri-captain Fran Volpe lost a thrilling overtime battle, 1-3 to Nate Burroughs--who is ranked No. 17 in the nation.

With the team down by six, sophomore standout Brad Soltis came up with another spectacular performance against Zdravko Divjak in the 197-pound weight class. Going up 4-2 in the first period, Soltis continued to gain momentum as the match progressed, eventually winning 10-6.

"It was a tough bout. His shoulder came out twice during the match but he was still looking for a major decision so he could get more team points," said Coach Weiss. "He is really peaking at the right time."

Although three points separated the Crimson from the Bears with one match remaining, about forty pounds separated Brown's heavyweight from freshman Dawid Rechul, giving the Bears a huge advantage. Rechul gave Brown's Bronson Lingamfelter a run for his money, keeping the first period scoreless. But despite a valiant effort, Rechul was could not hold on and was pinned with eight seconds left in the second period.

Saturday night proved far better for the Crimson, as they easily steam rolled BU 28-12, ending its home finale on a positive note. DeNunzio (141-pounds) and Friedman (149-pounds) capped off four stellar years of wrestling, winning their final matches at the Malkin Athletic Center.

"It was really weird to think that it would be my last time wrestling at the MAC since it's been such a long time," DeNunzio said.

He wasted little time though in setting the tone for the match, scoring a takedown over the Terriers' Jesse Moreng after only nine seconds and going up 6-2 in the first period. He would go on to cruise to a 16-5 win.

Despite a scoreless two periods, Friedman turned it up in the third and earned a sweep for the weekend, shutting out opponent Chris Simmons 2-0.

"Lately I am on my feet most of the time, I want to get back on top," Friedman said. "I'm annoyed I didn't get a takedown but that is something I need to fix before Easterns."

After a well-fought 3-4 loss the previous night in the 125-pound weight class, sophomore Kevin El-Hayek dominated his foe, Peter Aguado, wrestling aggressively for an 8-5 win.

At 133-pounds, sophomore Matt Picarsic absolutely demolished his opponent Keith Borgaro, winning with a technical fall at 6:33.

At 165 pounds, junior Tom Kiler had one of the most exciting matches of the night, coming from behind in the second period to almost pin Jason Holder and going on to claim an 8-6 win.

At heavyweight, Rechul faced Nicholas Zeras, another massive opponent. But this time Rechul's skill outweighed Zeras's size, as he dominated the entire match for a final score 9-0.

Now the Crimson will begin training in preparation for EIWAs at Army on March 5. The team hopes to return to 100 percent, as their dual meet season was plagued by injuries, including the loss of junior Joey Killar at 165-pounds.

"We need to get guys healthy," Coach Weiss said. "We will start to taper down and training will be more individualized."

"We looked pretty good this weekend, with Dawid, Matt, Kevin, and Dustin wrestling especially great matches," Friedman said. "In the grand scheme of things [the loss to Brown] doesn't mean much since all that matters is March. We've done all the hard work, now we just need to do some fine tuning."