Harvard's varsity wrestling team finished second behind Auburn University in a quadrangular meet held Saturday in Blacksburg, Va.

In the meet, also including North Carolina State University and the host school, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, the Crimson was forced to compete without regular Dave Scanlon at 190 pounds and his replacement two-year letterman Tony Rayner.

Both wrestlers did not make the trip, Scanlon suffering from an injured knee and Rayner feeling the pains of an infected jaw. Due to the injuries. coach John Lee was forced to move three of his middleweight individuals up a weight class to fill in.

Left Behind

Harvard defeated North Carolina State, 21-14, for its first victory of the afternoon, as heavyweight Tom Tripp pinned his Wolfpack foe to nail down the win.

The Crimson went on to beat Virginia Tech, 20-13, without too much difficulty. Against Auburn, the best team in the Southeastern Conference, Harvard fell behind, 10-0, and could never catch up, losing, 24-12.

The match was more even than the score indicates, the Tigers winning six bouts to the Crimson's four. Unfortunately for Harvard, many of Auburn's victories came on pins, which helped rack up more points for the Tigers.

"Auburn was physically very strong, they've by far the best team we've faced so far this season," Lee said later.

Four Crimson wrestlers won all three of their matches. Captain Pat Coleman, 150 pounds, Josh Henson, 134 pounds, Mark Faller, 177 pounds, and Rich Starr. 190 pounds, all swept through the tournament undefeated.

"All four looked very good and over-all I was quite pleased with the way we did, going down without Rayner and Scanlon," Lee said.

Faller and Starr were two of the Harvard grapplers who moved up a weight class to help fill the gap at 190 pounds.

Holiday Highs

Over vacation many Crimson wrestlers competed in holiday tournaments across the country. Coleman was the 150-pound champion in the C.W. Post Open and Henson took the 134-pound crown in the Washington, D. C. Open. Both competitions had over 400 entries. Faller was third at 177 pounds in the Wilkes Tournament in Wilkes Barre, Pa.

This Saturday, Harvard will meet C.C.N.Y. in the IAB. According to Lee the visitors have not been impressive this season.