The Harvard varsity wrestling team ended its dual meet season on an even note by splitting its last two Ivy League matches Saturday at the IAB. The Crimson overshadowed Brown, 24-15, while Yale squeaked by the matmen, 22-21, to give grapplers a balanced 9-9 slate for the year.

In the fifth match of the afternoon, Harvard won only four of ten bouts. But the Crimson picked up enough team points on the strength of three pins to close within one point of the Elis, and send a shiver down the backs of the Yale grapplers.

It looked like a runaway victory for Yale as it swept six of the first seven bouts to amass a commanding 22-6 lead. Harvard's only points came on a pin at the 142-lb. class, where the Crimson's Keith Oberg deposited Dave Miller on his back at 4:46.

It Could Have Been

Harvard still had a slim chance of eking out a victory, and Tony Cimmarusti kept those hopes alive by pinning Jeff Linson at 4:15 in the 177-lb. bout for six more Crimson points.

In the next match, the two premier 190-pounders in the Ivy League squared off against each other to decide who would receive this year's post-season accolades.

Harvard's Sal D'Agostino held on for a 7-5 decision over Joe Cooper to win his personal battle, but the Crimson still trailed by seven points and the chances for a team victory faded away.

Craig Beling brought the Crimson as close as it could come to the Eli's total by nailing Yale's heavyweight, Mike Makuch, in 2:29. Beling also pinned Russell Settipane in the Brown match to assure the Crimson of its ninth victory of the year.

In The Running

The lead switched hands five times in the Brown match before D'Agostino was called out of the "bullpen" to record the save. D'Agostino stuck Steve Abdow in 4:15 to reverse a 15-12 deficit to an 18-15 score in favor of the Crimson. Beling then iced the match with his second pin of the day.

After Brown won the 118-lb. division with a 2-0 decision over Harvard's Ray Dominguez, the Crimson recorded shutouts in the next two classes. Rick Kief won, 7-0, at 126 lbs. and Bob Cusamano blanked Brian Leach, 6-0, at 134 lbs.

Co-captains Tom Bixby and Jim Corcoran countered Brown victories at 142, 158 and 177 by winning decisions of their own at 150 and 167 lbs. The score was then 15-12 in Brown's favor when D'Agostino and Beling supplied the last-minute heroics.

After the meet Saturday, Corcoran said, "It was a good year. The only team we couldn't beat we Princeton." D'Agostino, who raised his record to 14-3 said, "Personally the season ended on a good note. One more week of good luck and I'll be very happy."

The grapplers travel to Penn for the EIWA championships next weekend.