Wrestling Places Thrice at Keystone Classic

With three wrestlers placing in their respective weight classes, Harvard wrestling put on a solid showing at the annual Keystone Classic in its second individual tournament of the season.

“We use this tournament to figure out parameters for where we are and what we need to do from here on out, how practice is going,” Harvard coach Jay Weiss said. “We wanted to see guys stepping up and that’s what they did. Some guys did really well and other guys need to do some work, which is good going into this time of year.”

For junior Josh Popple, the tournament was about resiliency in the face of early setbacks. Popple fell to Rider’s Donald McNeil, 12-6, in his very first match of the day. Following this setback, Popple continued on to win three straight matches until he found himself facing McNeil again in a later round match. This time, Popple came out victorious, taking McNeil down by fall in the fourth minute of the contest.

“That was a really big win for me,” Popple said. “He beat me pretty handily the first round of the tournament, so being able to get back and win in a later round, that was a huge thing for me.”

Popple’s eventually stretched the win streak to five, getting into the 197-pound third and fourth place match, where he lost to Indiana’s Luke Sheridan.

“Josh had a great day,” Weiss said. “He was off all last year because of an injury, so he’s been getting that rust off. He got better throughout the tournament, and it was pretty impressive. He’s doing a great job, getting better everyday.”

In his sophomore season, Tyler Grimaldi also made a strong showing. Grimaldi fought past Pittsburgh’s Alexander Kall before falling in the quarterfinals to Northwestern’s Pierce Harger. In the consolation bracket, Grimaldi made it to the fourth round, where he fell to Devan Marry in a tight 11-9 decision.

Another Crimson standout was junior co-captain Todd Preston, who improved upon his results from the Binghamton Open in early November to claim first place in the 141-pound weight bracket. In the title bout, Preston maintained a lead throughout against Rider’s Chuck Zeisloft, eventually claiming the win, 3-1.

“The biggest thing for Todd is basically just that every time he goes out he needs to treat it like the national tournament,” Weiss said. “He wrestled well, he still has some growing to do. Even in the finals, I don’t think he wrestled his best but he still won, and that’s how good he is. “

Harvard’s heavyweight, David Ng, was Harvard’s third tournament placer, notching a second place finish in the 285-pound weight class. Ng managed to handily take down each of his opponents by decision until his final match of the day, where Appalachian State’s Denzel Dejournette came out victorious in the championship round with a 6-3 decision.

“I’m really proud of David’s performance yesterday,” Weiss said. “I knew going into this tournament that he was going to have a great day, just from the way he’s been training. His confidence went a long way, and he did a great job.”

—Staff writer Jillian Dukes can be reached at jdukes01@college.harvard.edu.