Junior Mark Faller went all the way to the finals of the Eastern wrestling championships at Penu State Saturday afternoon before losing an 11-3 decision to the Nittany Lions' Andy Matter, but his Harvard teammates did not fare as well, finishing eighth in a field of 16.

Faller disposed of the defending Eastern champion at 167, Lehigh's Jack Bentz, in a semifinal bout, but Matter, a sophomore who was voted the tournament's outstanding performer and is favored to win the NCAA title in Evanston, III, next week, was too much for the Crimson's top wrestler.

There is little doubt that Faller is just that, as captain Paul Catinella and Colin Mangrum were the only other Crimson matmen to advance past-the first round.

Catinella blitzed Syracuse's Tony Lezard, S.O. in his opening bout at 134, but was then eliminated by Dave Wylie of Pittsburg, 5-4. in a bout that had more than its share of questionable calls. Because Wylie did not advance past the third round. Catinella did not go into the consolation rounds.

Riding Over

Mangrum, who defeated teammate Bart Harvey in a wrestle-off last week to open the starting berth at 158, rode into the semifinals with victories over Art Rutzen of Lehigh and Andy Bowen of Franklin and Marshall.

There he encountered the defending champion. Wally Strauser of Temple, who promptly sent Mangrum to the consolation finals against Pittsburgh's Bob Kuhn with a 7-2 win. Kuhn pulled away in the third period to hand Mangrum his second loss, 15-6.

In the championship bout at 167. Faller kept pace with Matter for two periods, trailing only 5-2. But he seemed tense throughout the bout, and was outgunned in the last stanza, tiring perceptibly.

Faller downed Princeton's Mike Maybeck and Penn's Bob Goslin in the early rounds on Friday. His loss to Matter was the first this season, but counting his three wins at the Easterns, he goes into the NCAA tournament with an 18-1-1 record.

For the NCAA's Faller will go down a weight class to 158. After a week of hard workouts, he weighed in at 160 at Penn State, and with two weeks remaining before the nationals, he should be able to accustom himself to the lighter weight.

Improvement

The Crimson's eighth-place finish was a one-place improvement over last year's Eastern performance. Princeton was the only Ivy team to top Harvard, and had Pat Coleman passed the first round, the Crimson could have moved up in the standings.

Coleman, a semifinalist last season at 150. was seeded this year at 142, but he lost a narrow 5-4 decision to Bill James in the opening round and did not wrestle again.

Navy ran away with the team title, winning six weight classes and amassing 86 points.