No Momentum Heading Into Individuals

The dual meet season is over, but the Crimson wrestlers have plenty of work ahead of them.

Although Harvard finished this long and difficult season with losses at Columbia and Cornell, excitement for the upcoming individual tournaments, Easterns and Nationals, is building.

“This is the time of year we train for,” Harvard coach Jay Weiss said. “It all comes down to these next two weeks and it’s time to totally switch our focus.”

But before it could look to this transition, the Crimson had to battle two tough Ivy League foes, competing fiercely against the Lions (7-7, 3-2 Ivy) on Friday night but losing 26-14 before falling hard to the Big Red (9-5, 6-0) by a 37-9 score on Saturday.

The story of the year for the Harvard grapplers has been the unprecedented streak of injuries, felling as many as eight starters at one point. Weiss had nothing but praise, though, for the way in which his squad has handled disappointment.

“Under the circumstances, I think everyone wrestled really well,” Weiss said. “Efforts like Craig Carpenter filling in at 157 lbs., and J.P. O’Connor being consistent all year, it shows how a lot of guys have stepped up.”

Unfortunately for the Crimson, these gutsy efforts could not produce many team wins as its season record fell to 2-10-1 (1-4). Asked what lies beyond this unpredictable season, Weiss was crystal clear.

“We’re going to shut it down a bit in the offseason and give some guys a chance to heal,” he said.

CORNELL 37, HARVARD 9

Harvard faced a tall order on Saturday, taking on the first place Big Red in Ithaca, N.Y. The weary Crimson could not stand up to the force of Cornell’s numerous nationally-ranked grapplers, but a few wrestlers shined when faced with the difficult challenge. A forfeit at 125 lbs and a major decision by second-ranked Mike Grey over junior Tommy Picarsic (133) gave the Big Red a 10-0 advantage, a margin the Crimson could not overcome.

Despite this ominous start, freshman Corey Jantzen and sophomore J.P. O’Connor held their own and gave Harvard a brief sense of hope. Jantzen scored a fall against the Big Red’s Nick Bridge, while the second-ranked O’Connor shut out D.J. Meagher to close the gap to 9-10. The fall for Jantzen sealed his second win in as many days and put an uplifting note on the end of the season.

These two wins represented the only points that the Crimson would score, as three falls and three decisions landed Harvard on the short end, but the Crimson wrestled competitively against heavy odds.

While freshman Michael Sadler (165), senior Billy Colgan (197), and sophomore heavyweight Andrew Knapp fell, they marked the only opportunities that Harvard had against Big Red wrestlers not ranked No. 17 or better.

Junior Patrick Ziemnik suffered his second fall of the weekend at 174 lbs against No. 10 Steve Anceravage, while Fred Rowsey (184) managed to yield no more than a regular decision to No. 17 Josh Arnone.

The most inspirational effort of the day, though, came from the rookie, Carpenter.

Despite going 0-9 in his first campaign wearing Crimson, Carpenter took on No. 8 Jordan Leen and gave the Cornell grappler all he could handle. The 157 wrestler evened the score at 4-4 during the first round and finished the second down only 5-7. Leer pulled away to earn a 13-7 decision in the third, but the Harvard freshman still earned praise from his coach.

“Craig was right in there until the end,” Weiss said. “It’s really great to see a young guy go through a long college season and wrestle like that at the end of the year.”

COLUMBIA 26, HARVARD 14

Harvard’s first match of the weekend began as a tightly contested effort. After forfeiting at 125 lbs to spot the Lions a 6-0 lead, the Crimson took the next three bouts behind outstanding performances from Picarsic, Jantzen, and O’Connor.

Columbia’s Jerome Greco and Picarsic required five overtime periods before the Harvard grappler scored a 2-1 victory. Jantzen gave the Crimson a 7-6 lead with a major decision over Nick Standish, throttling the Lions’ grappler for a 9-1 win.

While a major decision is always good news, this bout gave more reason than usual for celebration, as it marked the freshman’s first action since an injury in Dec. Clearly Jantzen was ready for his return to the mat.

“Corey is a stud,” O’Connor said. “It’s great to see him back out there. He’s going to do some big things in the tournaments coming up.”

O’Connor earned an impressive win of his own, a 5-1 decision against senior Anthony Constantino that pushed the score to 10-6 and continued the sophomore’s undefeated campaign in dual meets. The advantage would not last long for Harvard, though, as Columbia rattled off wins in the ensuing three bouts.

The middle of the weight range proved to be disastrous for the Crimson, as Carpenter and Sadler suffered major decision losses, giving Columbia a 14-10 edge. At 174 lbs., the Lions’ Travis Creagan earned a fall over Ziemnik, giving his team a 10-point cushion.

Rowsey, the fourth and final Harvard grappler to notch a victory, answered with a 14-1 major decision to top Mike Pushpak, but the overall score would not get any closer than six, at 20-14. Colgan and Knapp put up additional strong performances but fell, 2-0 and 3-1, respectively to end a tough day for the Crimson.

The wrestlers begin individual competitions the weekend of March 8, with the EIWA Championships in Lancaster, Penn., and follow up with the NCAA Championships the weekend of March 20 in St. Louis.