Grapplers Defeat Columbia, 20-14

After spurting to a 6 point lead in the lower weight class matches, the Harvard wrestling team hung on to defeat Columbia in New York Saturday, 20-14, despite two upsets in the heavier classes.

The big upset came in the 191 class match when John Imrie lost his balance in the process of pinning his Columbia opponent and was himself pinned. Imrie had been leading in points, 16-2, before he was pinned in the last 15 seconds.

Harvard had padded its victory margin enough in the early matches to withstand this loss, however. Bruce Goodman (130), Paul Catinella (137), and Pat Coleman (145) decimated Columbia's predicted strength in the lower weights, denying the Lions any real chance for victory. Coleman put in the best performance of the meet defeating Columbia's highly favored captain.

After Columbia had narrowed the point margin to three by defeating Harvard's Mike Slutzker in the 152 class, Mark Faller regained Harvard's 6 point lead with a 6-2 decision in the 160 class.

Columbia came back in the next match with a winning decision over Tony Rayner in the 167 class to again draw within three points. But Harvard captain Howie Chatterton, wrestling the 177 weight, widened the Crimson lead to 17-9, scoring the only pin for the Harvard team.

Columbia then capitalized on Imrie's fluke loss to force the meet's decision into the final match. Crimson heavyweight Tom Trip saved Harvard's lead, winning his contest easily on points to give Harvard an unexpected class victory of 20-14.