"All I can say is that I am certainly an awful lot more optimistic this year than I was a year ago tonight," said Harvard wrestling coach John Lee last night on the eve of his team's annual season opener against Wesleyan at 3 p. m. in the IAB.

The Crimson entering its 53rd season will be trying to improve on last year's, 5-10-1, record against a squad Lee brands, "not bad." Last season Harvard nipped Wesleyan, 18-16.

Much of Lee's optimism comes as a result of the team's lopsided victory two weeks ago in the Greater Boston Collegiate Wrestling Tournament.

"We won it by an ungodly margin," said Lee. Harvard smashed area opposition, rolling up 125 points as compared with 55 for their nearest rival, M. I. T. In winning the team championship, nine Harvard wrestlers swept to individual crowns in the ten weight classes.

Another reason for Lee's optimism stems from the fact that this year his squad is relatively free of injuries.

Last year the high number of injuries, lack of experience, and lack of depth all contributed to the Crimson's fifth place finish in the Ivy League and its predictably poor showing throughout the season. As Lee bluntly points out, "Last year we did not have a good season."

"However, I thought we'd get blitzed a lot more times than we did," he added. Last season Harvard was hampered by a weakness in the lighter weight divisions. It was here that the Crimson lost so many points and was forced to play catch-up in nearly every meet.

The strength of the squad last year was in the solid and consistent performances turned in by individuals in the heavier weight classes. Four of these competitors, who were among Harvard's winning top five wrestlers last season are returning this year. They include captain and second team All-Ivy selection Pat Coleman, Collin Mangrum, NCAA quarterfinalist and All-Ivy standout Mark Faller, and Dave Scanlon.

All four posted winning records last year with Faller proving the most impressive, ending the season with a 15-0-1, record.

In today's meet Lee plans to use amore experienced group of lightweights. At 118 lbs., Jay Galeskie is probably the least experienced of the four lighter weight competitors. He lost all three matches he was in last year but "he will do a good job this season," said Lee.

Steve Monsulik will compete at 126 lbs., hoping to improve on his, 1-14, record last season. "He'd never seen a wrestling meet last year at any time until he wrestled in our opener against Wesleyan. He just decided to go out last year and needless to say he has improved immensely," said Lee.

Josh Henson, a transfer student from Michigan, will be at 134 lbs. At 142 lbs. will be John Peters, one of the top prospects from last year's excellent freshman team. Coleman, Mangrum and Faller will be competing at 150, 167, and 177 lbs. respectively. Sophomore Richie Starr is at 177 lbs. and will no doubt further help to solidify the Crimson's heavyweights. Scanlon and Tom Tripp, both of whom won Boston area titles two weeks ago, will wrestle in the 190 lbs. and heavyweight divisions to round out the field.