Last winter, the Crimson matmen captured nine of 15 meets to rack up their first winning record in five long years. The return of seven of ten starters and a handful of talented reserves, along with the arrival of the finest freshman contingent in four years, promises to make this year's squad even better.

The team will wrestle more meets this time around, and several of the foes which were added to the slate are weak enough to insure that Harvard will improve on last year's 9-6 finish.

"It would be really disappointing if we didn't do better," coach Johnny Lee said Monday.

Stars

Unfortunately, the Crimson could trot out a much-improved squad and still not better last season's 3-2, third-place Ivy League record. Of the 20 grapplers who were first or second team All-Ivy last winter, 18 return to the league battles this year. And believe it or not, the only two who graduated were from Harvard, last year's co-captains Milt Yasunaga (126 lbs.) and Kip Smith (UNL).

Defending champion Princeton, which has lost only one league meet in the last three years, returns an awesome lineup that Harvard will need a miracle to beat. The Tigers bested the Crimson last year, 26-9.

Second place is a more achievable goal. Yale edged Harvard for that honor last winter, 23-15. Lee honestly feels that his squad was better, but got caught on a bad day. The team doesn't want to be disappointed again.

Rebuilding

The lightweight end of the Crimson lineup has been rebuilt. Dave Albert (118 lbs.) was the third senior to graduate, and Ray Dominquez was the only man on the roster available to take his place. While the newcomer will be competitive, Lee fears that this will be one of the weaker links in the Harvard array.

Freshman Rick Kief (126 lbs.), a Massachusetts high school champion from Norwood, moves into the spot vacated by Yasunaga. Despite the fact that the departed Rhodes Scholar went 10-1-1 last year to cap a brilliant four-year career, Lee is so impressed by Kief that he expects no drop-off in performance at that spot.

Another Yardling, Keith Oberg (134 lbs.), the brother of Dartmouth's superlative gridiron fullback, is currently starting ahead of the injured Bill Mulvihill (6-5-1). The experienced junior will return to action in a few days, but Oberg has done so well that the veteran may have trouble winning his job back.

Better Than Ever

Senior Bob Cusumano (3-1-2) is wrestling better than ever at the 142-pound slot, and senior co-captains Tom Bixby (7-7) and Jim Corcoran (7-6-2) are holding down the middle weights.

The 167-pound spot is shaping up as a headache for coach Lee. Last year's regular, Ed Bordley (3-10), is coming off a disappointing campaign and is having trouble making weight. John Franklin, a veteran who took last year off, is slated to start, but he is too light to do well this high in the lineup.

In the next spot, freshman Tony Cimmarusti (177 lbs.) gets the nod ahead of fellow freshmen John Scibetta and Rick Miller, one of whom may drop to fill the gap at 167.