Harvard's wrestling team went to Princeton Saturday hoping a rescue a disappointing season and returned with a disastrous 28-7 loss and the realization that a mediocre record is imminent.

Princeton offered the most balanced attack of any Ivy squad that has faced the Crimson this season, winning seven bouts and tying two. Not only did Harvard lose where it expected to drop points, but even its favorites, Dan Blakinger and Ritchie Starr, were outclassed by the Tigers.

With only two anticlimactic Ivy matches remaining, coach John Lee is planning on gearing the squad's training toward the upcoming Eastern championships. Lee fears he may have overemphasized conditioning earlier this year, and now he will stress drills and, tactics.

"We were in better condition than Princeton," Lee said, "but they were tactically better than us. We were even as well-conditioned as Navy this year, but Navy outmuscled us and Princeton outsmarted us." I'll devote the next ten days to drills that can help the boys in the individual competition at the Easterns."

Harvard started out on a bad note Saturday as Blakinger (118) lost to Lee Klepper by an embarrassing 11-2 score. Klepper has lost several bouts this year but his aggressive style caught Blakinger offguard and gave the Tigers two single-leg takedowns in the opening seconds of the first period.

The Crimson rallied briefly in the next two bouts as freshman Carl Biello (126) gave his best effort of the year to tie Tiger captain Steve Garner and Jeff Henson (134) won the Crimson's only decision of the day.

Crucial Losses

Harvard lost where it had to win however, in the next three bouts. Gerry Kahrilas was taken down with six seconds to go for an 8-7 loss at 142, and captain Colin Mangrum was edged out by Paul Martinelli, 7-5, in the 158 bout. Boris Holmes turned in a good performance at 150 but could not match Barry Margerum, who finished third in the Easterns last year.

The losses at 142 and 158 left little doubt as to the team outcome of the match. Princeton continued to build the rout as it won a close decision against Bruce Johnson at 167 and Emil Delire simply outmuscled Dave Scanlon at 190. The biggest Harvard disappointment of the day came at 177 where Ritchie Starr failed to attack a stalling opponent and settled for a 1-1 tie.