Saturdays are a day of relaxation for the average college student, but that was far from reality for the wrestling team last weekend. The Bears first traveled to Cambridge to wrestle Harvard and Franklin and Marshall College in a dual meet. The team lost to Harvard 27-15 but bounced back to beat the Diplomats 28-10. Later that day, the team crossed the Charles River to face Boston University but fell to the Terriers 22-12. The 1-2 weekend leaves Brown with a record of 3-6 in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association, and 3-11 overall.
The Bears got an auspicious start against Harvard, scoring the first 12 points of the dual. Greg Einfrank '10 at 125 pounds and Jeff Schell '08 at 133 pounds both pinned their opponents after only spending a minute each on the mat.
In the 141-pound weight class, Mark Savino '08 wrestled the Crimson's Max Meltzer, who came into the match ranked 16th nationally. After a hard-fought regulation, the two headed into overtime tied 4-4. In the second extra session, Meltzer scored a point for escaping from the down position and won with a 5-4 decision.
Although Brown still held a 12-3 lead following Meltzer's win, Savino's loss sparked a prolonged winless streak. Harvard took the next six matches in a row, of which three more were won by wrestlers in the national rankings.
During the losing streak, Bryan Tracy '10 fell to the highest-ranked opponent in the dual when he wrestled at 149 pounds against No. 6 J.P. O'Connor.
"I knew he was really tough so I tried to keep the score close ... but in the end, I felt like I wrestled his match and not mine," Tracy said.
Zach Zdrada '09 was able to end the meet on a positive note in the heavyweight division, bringing home one more victory for the Bears with a 10-3 decision. Though Zdrada's win halted the Crimson's run of 27 straight points, it was too little, too late for the Bears.
Head Coach Dave Amato said the team's youth was a large factor in the loss. Eight of the Brown wrestlers were underclassmen, and none were seniors.
"It's hard for the young guys to wrestle against more experienced opponents," Amato said. "Confidence definitely plays a big part in the matches."
Later that afternoon against Franklin and Marshall, the team emerged with better results. The Bears dominated the dual from the outset, winning the first five matches. Einfrank and Schell won their second matches of the day with a 4-2 decision and a 15-4 major decision, respectively. Then Savino picked up a win on a 5-2 score, Tracy defeated his opponent with a 10-2 major decision at 149 and Lenny Marandino '09 won by technical fall at 157 pounds. With a commanding lead of 19-4 heading into the final match, Chris Musser '10 pushed the match out of reach with a 10-3 decision at 174 pounds to give Bruno a 22-4 advantage. Franklin and Marshall forfeited the 184-pound match.
Savino was pleased by the team's ability to record a commanding victory despite wrestling with its entire senior class on the injured list.
"The juniors on the team, Schell, (Levon Mock '08) and I try our best to lead the team," Savino said."
After the commanding victory over the Diplomats, the Bears struggled against Boston University. At 125 pounds, Einfrank wrestled BU's Abbie Rush and took the match to overtime. Rush earned one more point for riding time and took the first match.
Schell then lost 3-2 at 133 pounds, and the Bears fell short at 141 and 149 as well. Tom Fazio '09 won the team's first points in the battle at 157 pounds when he pinned his opponent 10 seconds before the end of the match, and Matt Gevelinger '09 won his first match of the day at 184 with a major decision of 14-6.
The most exciting match was at the heavyweight class between Zdrada and Orey Hall. Hall was leading 3-2 until the very end of the match, when the referee gave a point to Zdrada on account of Hall's stalling. In overtime, Zdrada quickly took his opponent down. His 5-3 win concluded the dual and gave the Bears a more respectable 12 points.
Amato said Brown wrestled hard but suffered from an inability to capitalize on close matches. "We need to win those matches to win the duals," he said.
Bruno will host its final home duals this weekend. Wagner College and Columbia visit the Pizzitola Center on Friday, then Cornell and Delaware State University on Saturday. These four duals will be the last duals before the EIWA Championships in March.
Columbia and Cornell will be stiff competition for the Bears. They hold the two best records in the league - Cornell is undefeated in the Ivy play, and Columbia only has one loss in the conference. Savino said he cares less about the results and more about how the wrestlers wrestle on the mat.
"Even if we are against a strong team, we want to give everything we have on the mat and put up a good fight," Savino said.
