Preston, Johnson, Gajdzik Finish Among Top Three at Keystone Classic

Harvard wrestling returned to action for its second tournament of the season on Sunday at the Keystone Classic at the University of Pennsylvania. While the squad finished seventh on the day, the Crimson saw several wrestlers locked up in matches that came down to the very last second.

“I think we had a lot of guys wrestle really well today,” Harvard coach Jay Weiss said. “Jeff Ott and Josef Johnson in particular won bouts in the last second of matches, which showed some real grit. Josef had to really hold on and come back in regulation, and I like to see that kind of stuff where you never quit. That’s something we pride ourselves on, to never be out of the match.”

Johnson managed to clinch a third-place finish at 174 lbs., fighting his way through a handful of gritty matches to reach the semifinal round. After losing his semifinal bout, the sophomore outmaneuvered his opponent—Jacob Davis of Eastern Michigan, to claim a 5-3 victory and earn his spot on the podium.

Ott, a junior, also managed to secure placewinner status. The 133-pounder held off his final opponent of the day—Andy Schultz of Bloomsburg—in a 12-11 standoff for the fifth place spot, notching one of four podium finishes for the Crimson.

“For Jeff to come off his year away and be able to immediately step up like that today was incredible to see,” senior captain Todd Preston said. “He’s a future leader of this program and top guy on the team, and it was really exciting to see.”

Preston provided a strong performance of his own, earning a team-best second place finish. In his first four matches, Preston handily defeated his opponents, earning two technical falls and earning a position in the gold medal match for his weight class at 141 pounds. Pittsburgh’s Mike Racciato outmaneuvered Preston in a tight 3-2 final to claim the gold.

“I made plenty of mistakes that I have to work on going forward, but there were also things that I feel good about,” Preston said. “I’m happy with today, but I’m definitely not content with it. Even if I’d won, I wouldn’t be satisfied this early in the season.”

Several freshmen made their collegiate debut for Harvard at the Classic, with freshmen Nolan Hellickson and Ryan Friedman recording multiple individual wins for the Crimson, at the 125 and 133 weight brackets, respectively.

“They did really well and fought hard,” Weiss said. “With them, I wasn’t so much looking at the outcome of the match, but rather how they compete[d]. They did well—they really battled and showed some heart, which is a huge part of the sport.”

The final place winner for the Crimson was junior Nick Gajdzik, who found himself facing a familiar foe in the heavyweight division, as he faced off against Pittsburgh’s Ryan Solomon. The two were neck and neck throughout the match, but Solomon outlasted Gajdzik 2-1.

“Solomon has been around for years, and he’s been tough competition for us during his career, but Nick was right there with him,” Weiss said. “For him to come back from his year off and do so well against a great opponent was exciting to see, and a great start to the season for him.”

Following the loss to Solomon, Nick Gajdzik bounced back, recording a pin against a Franklin and Marshall heavyweight, and proceeding to outlast Rider’s Mauro Correnti to record a third-place finish on the day.

“I feel the same way I typically feel after a tournament like that,” Weiss said. “There was some good, there was some not so good. I think we definitely saw some room for improvement. There were some top teams there, some really tough competition for us. We’ve just always got to be better than we were last time, and I think we did see some of that today.”

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