Lions Roar, But Harvard Wrestling Tames the Pride

24 hours made all the difference for Harvard wrestling, as it absorbed a tough 38-9 loss to the 2026 regular season Ivy League Champion, Columbia, on Saturday before turning around to dominate Hofstra 25-9 on Sunday, highlighted by a five-match winning streak from 149 to 184 pounds. The weekend belonged to RPI No. 7 tri-captain Jimmy Harrington and No. 33 junior tri-captain Jack Crook, who each went 2-0 on the weekend.

Harvard (5-6, 1-3 Ivy) faced off against the Lions (10-3, 5-0), hoping to come up with a major upset and end its three-game losing streak following a nail-biting 19-18 victory in 2023. Columbia entered the meet looking to finish off its perfect season against conference opponents by defeating Harvard and Brown (4-8, 0-4) to capture the Ivy League title. The Crimson’s matchup against Hofstra (3-14, 3-5 EIWA) held more hope, having fallen in Harvard’s favor since the first meeting in 2010 ended in a 20-20 tie.

Harvard 9, Columbia 38

The Lions opened with a roaring start, taking the first three bouts to put Harvard in a 15-0 deficit right off the bat. Giving up bonus points in all three matches, the Crimson desperately needed a momentum shift from its seasoned middleweights to stay in the game.

Crook struck first for Harvard at 149 pounds, defeating 2025 NCAA qualifier No. 22 Richard Fedalen. Crook outpressured and outpaced Fedalen, nailing down takedowns in the second and third periods to hand him a decisive loss.

In the next bout, Harrington delivered the highlight of the weekend, cutting Columbia’s lead to 15-9. Facing No. 15 Kai Owen at 157 pounds, the Crimson senior forced a fall in the third period of an otherwise low-scoring match that Owen led 4-0. After spending much of the first period fighting off Owen from bottom, Harrington seemed hesitant to shoot until the third period put him in a tight spot, needing to score some takedowns to have a chance to win. Just as it seemed that Owen would survive to pick up a decision win, Harrington came up big with an outside trip leading into a huge upper body throw that the exhausted Owen could not escape, securing his first pin of the season to throw six team points on the board for the Crimson.

Junior Joe Cangro nearly made it three straight wins, battling hard in a narrow 8-5 decision loss to the Lions’ senior Cesar Alvan at 165 pounds, but Columbia regained control instead, winning the final five bouts to seal the 38-9 victory and continue its undefeated Ivy streak, setting the stage for its demolition of Brown on Sunday to secure the title of regular season Ivy League Champions.

Giving up all but one of its losses as bonus point wins for Columbia, including three falls, the Harvard squad needed to refocus and recover for the next day’s dual at Hofstra.

“We had to have short-term memory and get back on the horse,” said Head Coach Jay Weiss. “We had a much better second day.”

Harvard 25, Hofstra 9

At Hofstra’s David S. Mack Physical Education Center, Harvard demonstrated its adherence to Weiss’s advice with a dominant streak in the middleweights to seize a 25-9 victory over the Pride.

Instead of reawakening the feeling of Saturday’s loss to Columbia, Harvard responded to falling 6-3 after the first three bouts by snatching up five-straight wins from 149 to 184 pounds.

Crook, reminiscent of his earlier victory in New York, opened the scoring spree with a tech fall over Hofstra junior Alex Turley to put the Crimson back in front 8-6. Harrington continued his personal win streak for the weekend with a shutout major decision over Pride sophomore Frank Volpe, extending the Harvard lead to 12-6. Both captains tallied multiple early takedowns and kept the offensive pressure dialed up until the end, contributing to the Crimson’s 79-35 match point advantage and 20-3 takedown advantage.

“They know that this is the time of year to start wrestling your best, so they really put it all together,” Weiss said. “They’re just veterans, and they know how to peak.”

The momentum continued for Harvard as Cangro extended the team’s lead to 16-6 with yet another shutout major decision at 165 pounds over Hofstra’s Jake Slotnick, followed by sophomore Haden Bottiglieri’s decision over the Pride’s Matthew Waddell. Junior Matt Walsh finished off the unanswered series for the Crimson with a decision over Hofstra’s Josh Jorgge to give Harvard a 16-point lead with just two bouts remaining.

Although sophomore Hudson Skove dropped the penultimate bout to the Pride’s Will Conlon in a hard-fought 2-0 decision, Harvard junior Daniel Bittner closed out the weekend on a positive note with a high-energy 4-1 sudden victory over Hofstra junior Adrian Sans at heavyweight.

“There are a couple of guys that have to pick it up a little bit, but the guys are wrestling better right now,” said Weiss about the team’s preparations for the upcoming postseason. “I’m excited. I think our last match was good, and the guys will wrestle their best going into Brown and carry it over into Ivies and the National Championships.”

Harvard will wrap up its season with a final dual at Brown on Feb. 22, hoping to carry the Hofstra momentum into what could be a pivotal final tune-up before returning to Columbia for the Ivy League Championship on March 8.

—Staff writer Rani J. Amin can be reached at [email protected].