After a series of inconclusive pre-season skirmishes, Harvard leaps headlong into Ivy League wrestling competition in the IAB this Saturday against Cornell, the tyrant of the league last year. The Redmen defeated all six of their Ivy opponents last season, blasting Harvard in the process 33-0.

Harvard coach Bob Pickett is optimistic, however. "If things start going right for us, we're going to beat them," he said. In view of last year's disaster, even the mildest hope of victory might seem presumptuous, but Pickett has his reasons.

In their first three matches, Cornell was battered by Lehigh 28-5, by Navy 26-9, and by Michigan 19-8. The three powerhouses lead off a back-breaking slate of 19 dual matches scheduled by an apparently power-drunk Cornell athletic department. The Redmen will have to wrestle Brown on the day before they meet Harvard. In addition, the Cornell squad was weakened by graduation, forcing them to start four sophomores.

Pickett singled out one of the Cornell sophomores. Bob Stock at 123, as the best wrestler that Harvard sophomore star Howard Henjyoji has faced so far. Other Cornell standouts include Captain Neal Orr at 120, the only senior in the starting lineup, and Jeff Stephens at 167.

Despite Cornell's difficulties with pre-season opposition, Pickett has no illusions about their strength. He accorded the Redmen "a slight edge" over Harvard and Columbia in the Ivy League race, followed by Yale, Penn, Princeton, and Brown. "Penn might get stronger as the season goes along," he added.

In preparation for the meet. Pickett has made a number of lineup shifts. Mike King moves in at 130 pounds, replacing Tom Gilmore. Howie Durfee, a star from last year who has been unable to wrestle because of illness, returns at 137. Ed Franquement moves down a weight, from 157 to 147. Dave Worcester, who was injured for most of last year, will wrestle at 157, and Jeff Grant replaces Jeff Hall, out with an infected finger, at 167.

Holdovers include Henjyoji at 123, Chris Wickens at 177, Captain Ben Brooks at 191, and heavyweight Tack Chace. "Our key matches," Pickett said, "are 123, 137, 177, 191, and unlimited."

Before Christmas vacation, Harvard beat M.I.T., finished fifth in the Coast Guard Academy Tournament, and lost to Franklin and Marshall 15-14. During the F and M meet, Jeff Hall's opponent twice lifted him from the mat and slammed him down again. In Pickett's opinion, both slams should have cost the F and M wrestler penalty points, but only one of the violations was called. Had the referee awarded Hall both penalties, the match and the meet would have gone to Harvard.

"The officiating was sluggish," Pickett said. "He wasn't quite on his toes, but the officiating is the same thing as breaks. It could have gone very strongly for us," he continued. "We should have all been down a weight. Later on in the season we would have had no trouble with F and M."