Wrestling's Gobbo Captures EIWA Title at Princeton

With the end of their seasons on the line, three Crimson athletes managed to extend competition another two weeks at the EIWA Championships. In addition, senior Devon Gobbo captured an EIWA title at 165 lbs., becoming the 22nd Harvard wrestler to complete the feat in program history.

Thanks to their performances, Gobbo, co-captain Todd Preston, and junior Josef Johnson booked their tickets to Madison Square Garden for NCAAs, while several other Harvard wrestlers registered individual wins as well. The Crimson finished in ninth place, with a team score of 60.5.

“It was a rollercoaster of a tournament,” Harvard coach Jay Weiss said. “I thought the guys did well, [and] we wanted to finish higher, but we still did well. We have a few guys going on the nationals...and I’m happy with that.”

Harvard saw several of its wrestlers fall early in the competition to injury, making a tough start for the Crimson.

“Those guys were guys who we had expected to go on and score some big points for the team,” Weiss said. “So it’s disappointing to have that happen. We had wanted to finish the tournament top five, but I still feel like we reached that since we weren’t too far from there points-wise.”

The standout performance of the weekend came from Gobbo at 165 lbs. Two years after Harvard’s last EIWA individual championship won by Todd Preston, Gobbo added his name to the list of Harvard wrestlers who have secured the title.

In the final match that stood between him and the Eastern Championship title, Gobbo faced off with an opponent who had pinned him at the beginning of the season at the Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas, NV.

“Devon looked great throughout the tournament,” Weiss said. “For him to come back and beat that same guy is so exciting, and is just a testament to how much he’s grown. He can wrestle with anybody, and I’ve told him he looked awesome today.”

For the past three years, Gobbo has had fragmented seasons thanks to a multitude of injuries. In spite of these setbacks, the No. 20-ranked senior out grappled with Cornell’s Duke Pickett, the top seed of the tournament.

“My senior year of high school I missed the state tournament because of an injury, so instead of competing in that, I went and watched my future teammates wrestle in this same tournament at Princeton,” Gobbo said. “So from then on, it was a huge goal of mine, and getting it done at that same arena was really a dream come true.”

Sophomore Josef Johnson also notched his first bid to the NCAA tournament, outlasting his opponent through three overtime frames to earn a sixth-place finish.

“It was frustrating for him when he got pushed into overtime over a call, but he stayed really tough,” Weiss said. “That was a really exciting bout for all of us.”

Preston finished closely behind Gobbo, notching a second place finish at 141 lbs. The senior wasn’t able to repeat his sophomore year EIWA title, falling to Franklin and Marshall’s Richard Durso in the championship bout.

“He’s a warrior,” Weiss said. “He did awesome. Durso is very difficult to wrestle against. He has a certain style that you have to adjust to, and Todd did a good job of that…. Todd’s been at the NCAA tournament before, he’s been knocking on the door to being an All-American, and I have the utmost confidence in what he’s going to do in two weeks.”

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