Wrestling Drops in Quarters at Virginia Duals

The Harvard wrestling team was missing three of its starters at the Virginia Duals tournament this weekend, and that proved too much for the Crimson to overcome at one of its toughest tournaments of the season.

Harvard fell to Edinboro in the quarterfinals 24-9 after beating Ohio University 19-16 in the first round. The Crimson mirrored that performance in the consolation round, roaring back from an 18-0 deficit to defeat Hofstra 21-20, but then fell 19-18 to Virginia Tech in the consolation quarters.

"All in all, it was a great weekend," said Harvard Coach Jay Weiss. "These kids took a big jump this weekend. We had a very inexperienced group and they still battled for two big wins and came extremely close against Virginia Tech."

"We had three starters out and we had freshmen in at six of the ten weight classes," co-captain Joey Killar said. "Considering that, we did well and it was good experience for them."

Lightweight David Germakian was one of those freshmen fill-ins, and he scored a surprise 9-6 win over Paul Hernandez to set-up the Crimson first-round victory. He executed a second period reversal and a three-point near-fall for the win.

Germakian started in place of injured sophomore Brandon Rhoades.

"It was his first duals meet," Killar said. "To pick up the first-round win was very good."

Killar had the other crucial victory at 165 pounds in the match, pinning John Wervey at the end of the third period after scoring a three-point near-fall in the second. The bonus points for the pin proved to be the margin of victory.

Freshman Max Odom blew out Aaron Cooper 13-2 with a big third period.

Sophomore heavyweight Dawid Rechul lost a seesaw battle to Tim Courtad. The score was tied 6-6 going into the final period, but Courtad pulled off two takedowns for the 11-8 victory.

While Harvard was able to edge Ohio State, its lack of experience proved fatal in its match against Edinboro, a top ten team.

The Fighting Scots captured seven of 10 matches, including a major upset of Crimson co-captain Ed Mosley, 4-0, by Josh Koscheck at 174 pounds. Koscheck's first period takedown propelled him to victory.

Germakian dropped to Jason Garielson 12-0 on the strength of a monstrous seven-point first period.

Crimson freshman Kendrick Sadler suffered a huge 15-0 defeat to Kendrick Sadler at 133 pounds.

The only three wrestlers for Harvard to win were Killar, Odom and senior 157-pounder Tom Kiler. Kiler executed a near-fall in the second to edge Shawn Shapert 4-2.

Killar, who had by far the best tournament of any Crimson wrestler, continued his dominance by beating Yanni Diamond, 6-0.

"I was wrestling a decent opponent and picked up a good win," Killar said.

After the defeat, Harvard hung tight and battled in the consolation rounds. Hofstra opened up an 18-0 lead, but senior Kevin Kurtz dumped Dennis Papadatos at 157 pounds to start an amazing comeback. Rechul sealed the 21-20 win with a 4-0 victory over Mike Eberle.

The Crimson tried to pull off another comeback in the consolation quarters against Virginia Tech, but fell just short. Harvard spotted the Hokies 13 points and wound up losing by just one, 19-18.

Killar picked up a stalling point in an 8-0 win over Chris Martin.

Harvard now takes a break for final exams. The Crimson hopes its injured wrestlers will return for its Jan. 28 home match against Army.