Harvard Wrestlers Win Big in Las Vegas

One can only imagine the visions dancing in the head of Harvard wrestling coach, Jay Weiss, as he led his extremely young team into the Las Vegas Invitational Tournament.

Las Vegas. A fast-moving city of bright lights where the glitter and opulence of the few is directly contrasted with the poverty and depravity of the many. The stakes are big time, and Weiss must have known as the team drove through the magnificent city on the way to State Line, Nevada that many reputations had been made-or busted-there.

It was the first time Harvard had received an invitation to the prestigious, nationally-known tournament which had wrestlers from more than 40 universities.

The competition included many teams nationally ranked in the top 20 including Iowa State, who won the tournament, Illinois, Arizona State and Wisconsin State.

"I was a little nervous going out there," Weiss said. "It's the biggest tournament we've ever gone to and I was taking four freshman and three sophomores. A lot of people told me that the team was too young to go out there."

The wrestlers performed well beyond their expectations.

"Some of the young guys wrestled their first matches wide-eyed, but after realizing that we could compete we really turned it on," Weiss continued. "I saw improvement in everyone from the first match to the last."

At 118, junior James Butera, won two of his four matches. Freshman Brett Williams wrestling at 126 pounds also finished 2-2.

Another freshman, 134-pounder Tom Kiler, went 2-2 in the tournament. Kiler replaced captain Joel Friedman, who was unable to travel due to the flu.

"It was one of the tougher tournaments," Kiler said. "A lot of the guys who place there finish All-American."

At 142, freshman Kevin Kurtz lost both of his matches in the double-elimination tournament. Sophomore Luke Golpe also was shut out in the 177-pound bracket.

Sophomore Ed Mosley, wrestling at 158, and junior Rob Durbin, who wrestled at 190 pounds, both finished 3-2. Both wrestlers were only one win away from placing in the tournament.

In the quarterfinals, Mosley lost to the defending national champion Ernest Benion who wrestles for Illinois. Durbin won two of his matches on take downs in the last five seconds of the final period.

Freshman Joe Killar surprised two of the top 12 wrestlers in the nation including last year's EIWA champion, Brown's Mike Francesca, whom he beat 11-2. Killar, wrestling in the 150-pound weight class, placed eighth in the tournament, the highest finish for a Crimson wrestler.

"I feel really good about my performance," Killar said. "I felt I could beat Francesca and I talked to the coach. Our strategy paid off."

Harvard finished 25th out of 44 teams.

"I can't express how pleased I am with how pleased I am with how we responded to that competition." Weiss said. "We took a big step. Of the teams in our league only Cornell sent their whole team. We are a much better team after experiencing competition at that level."

The Crimson is sending wrestlers to both the Midland Tournament and Wilkes Open on December 28th.