Preston Triumphs But Wrestling Falls at No. 16 Cornell

Every wrestler has his kryptonite, and Harvard men’s wrestling captain, No. 7 Todd Preston, is no different. The 2014 EIWA Championships Most Outstanding Wrestler has struggled in the past against former Blair Academy teammate Mark Grey, but Preston overcame his rival by decision on Friday night as the Crimson (2-2, 0-1 EIWA) faced off against No. 16 Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y.

Preston’s breakthrough win was not enough, however, as the higher-ranked Big Red (3-3, 2-0 EIWA) claimed a 31-14 victory at the Friedman Wrestling Center.

“It was a hurdle,” Preston said of his win. “I definitely made strides mentally because he’s always had my number—he beat me last year. But I’m not settling now because obviously there’s much tougher guys for me to accomplish my goal of being a national champion…. Being a little sick and under the weather, I was happy with my performance.”

Harvard looked poised for a potential upset, taking a 14-9 lead after five matches. Freshman Nolan Hellickson began proceedings against fellow first-year Dalton Macri, losing by fall after six minutes and 45 seconds.

“[Nolan’s] doing really well, making strides on a weekly basis,” Preston said. “That’s all we should ask for from freshmen. At the Division I level, it’s a lot different than high school. For someone to make those strides on a weekly basis…honestly that is all you can ask for. He’s putting the dedication to get better.”

The Crimson was fortunate to win by forfeit in the 133-pound class, with Cornell unable to send out an opponent for junior Jeffrey Ott. Then came Preston, who was battling an illness coming into the match, but managed to pull off a gutsy victory. The string of results put Harvard up 9-6 at the time.

Captain Patrick Hogan then faced freshman Joey Galasso, the first Philadelphia wrestler to win a state championship back in high school, in the 149-pound class. Hogan battled throughout but lost via decision, 8-2, knotting the overall score back up at nine.

Up next was sophomore Tyler Tarsi, coming into the match just 5-7 in his collegiate dual meet career. The Nazareth, Penn., native, however, showed great maturity in his win over freshman Kyle Simaz, defeating the Big Red wrestler by virtue of a technical fall. This dominant performance earned the Crimson five points, putting them up 14-9 more than halfway through the meet.

“Tyler did a great job,” Harvard coach Jay Weiss said. “He wrestled hard, he got on top, and turned the guy. It was a close match until he got on top. It was a great match for Tyler; we’ve been waiting for him to blossom, and this was a good match for him to do that.”

From that point on, unfortunately, Harvard came up face to face with the “heart” of Cornell’s roster. Choosing not to use 18th-ranked senior Duke Pickett in the 165-pound class, the Big Red sent out fellow senior Chris Dowdy who recorded a major decision victory over freshman Peter Bearse, who had yet to wrestle in a dual meet.

In the 174 and 184-pound weight classes, Cornell boasted a couple of the nation’s top-ranked wrestlers. In the former, No. 7 Brian Realbuto won by technical fall, 16-0, over sophomore Josef Johnson. This five-point victory gave the Big Red its first lead of the night, 18-14.

No. 1 Gabriel Dean would proceed to win by fall in the 184 against senior Michael Mocco, extending Cornell’s lead to 24-14. Senior Josh Popple and junior Nicholas Gajdzik then came up short in the 197 and heavyweight classes to close out the match.

“I think we had some good training going into it,” Weiss said. “It shows us what we still need to work on. All I really wanted was for our guys to go out and fight until the whistle. For the most part, they did. Particularly the atmosphere to wrestle in a tight gym with a loud crowd... I wanted them to soak it up.”

—Staff writer Manav Khandelwal can be reached at manav.khandelwal@thecrimson.com.