Wrestling Gets First Win of Season Over Princeton

All year long, Robbie Preston has won.

For the first time this season, so did Harvard.

Against wrestling’s version of the Killer P’s, the Crimson (1-7, 1-1 Ivy) brought home its first victory of the season, taking care of Princeton on the road a day after falling to No. 15 Penn.

HARVARD 27, PRINCETON 16

Against the Tigers (4-6, 0-4 Ivy), it was business as usual for No. 16 Preston.

The sophomore (125 lbs.) pinned Princeton’s Audrey Pang in 3:33 in the latest effort of a dual-meet campaign that has been nothing short of spotless.

“He doesn’t make many mistakes,” junior co-captain Mike Baria said. “Technically, he’s one of the best wrestlers I’ve ever wrestled with, and that’s a huge advantage for him.”

After starting off the year with strong tournament appearances at the East Stroudsburg and Cliff Keen Invitationals, Preston stands undefeated in dual meet competition.

Pang’s Tigers are just the latest name in a daunting list which includes fallen opponents from Eastern Michigan, Stanford, Cal. State Fullerton, Hofstra, Army, Lehigh, and Penn—the latter four boasting nationally ranked programs.

“I expected this [of Preston], because I know he’s that good,” Harvard coach Jay Weiss said. “I know he can go with anyone in the country. He’s having a good year, and he’s not satisfied. He’s looking for bigger things, and the sky’s the limit for him.”

In getting Harvard’s first win, however, Preston’s was naturally not the only notable performance.

Freshman Matt Button (157 lbs.) and senior heavyweight Jonas Corl turned in pins of their own.

Button pinned Tim Prugar in 3:42, while the veteran Corl vanquished Kris Berr in 1:57.

“It was exciting,” Weiss said. “If you look at the score, we pulled out some one-point, overtime decisions, some close matches, which is so important for us. It was good. The guys felt more pressure team-wise, which is always a good thing. They worked hard. They deserved it.”

Freshman Dominic DeNunzio (149 lbs.) and senior Eddie Jones (184 lbs.) also won, joining Preston in completing their undefeated weekends. Andrew Ianuzzi took DeNunzio into overtime before losing, 7-5, while Jones earned a 3-2 decision over Jack Fleming.

Baria (141 lbs.) won his match, as well, gaining a 10-4 decision on Eric Marcotulli. Harvard won six of its 10 pairings, with Jones’ pin the final nail in the coffin.

“It was good for the whole team,” Baria said. “The win was really due to a better atmosphere within the team. Guys were a lot more excited on the bench, and it proved that we’re capable to beat another good team. We’re capable of doing it. It’s opened up our vision.”

Although the obvious take-home message from the weekend will surely be that first “W,” Weiss is quick to put things in perspective.

“It was good, but we know that we’re always going to be a better tournament team, geared towards the end of the year,” he said. “But what I liked here was that we were in the match. The guys knew it the whole time.”

The Crimson now looks forward to a busy weekend in which it will play host to Columbia at 4 p.m. and Sacred Heart at 6 p.m. on Friday. On Saturday, Harvard welcomes Cornell and East Stroudsburg at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., respectively.

PENN 28, HARVARD 15

Despite gritty wins by Preston, Jones, and DeNunzio, the Crimson fell 28-15 to Penn on Friday afternoon, with much of the attention centering on an epic, double-overtime heavyweight match between the Quakers’ No. 6 Matt Feast and sophomore No. 7 Bode Ogunwole.

The nationally ranked duel featured a scoreless first frame before an Ogunwole escape drew first blood at the outset of the second period. With 1:40 remaining, Feast then tied the score at 1-1 with another escape, taking it to overtime. In the first period of bonus wrestling, yet another escape gave Ogunwole a 2-1 advantage before Feast countered in the same fashion.

The same exact sequence occurred as the match reached its third and fourth tiebreakers.

Finally, at a 3-3 stalemate and both overtimes exhausted, Feast was awarded the fourth, critical point on the strength of 34 seconds of riding time over Ogunwole.

The conclusion marked another chapter in an ongoing saga between the two titans, first showcased at Midlands this year in December, a 3-2 Feast victory which relegated Ogunwole to a third place showing.

“Bode keeps getting closer,” Weiss said. “It was a very good match, well-wrestled. And you couldn’t get much closer than it really was.”

“Bode knows he’s in on him,” he added. “Hopefully, they’ll face off one more time at the end of the year in Eastern finals.”

—Staff writer Pablo S. Torre can be reached at torre@fas.harvard.edu.