PHILADELPHIA--Harvard heavyweight Craig Beling earned a berth in the semifinals in the EIWA wrestling championships by defeating Mike Duncan of East Stroudsburg, 9-3, in the opening round, and then ousting third-seeded Mike Newbern of Lehigh in the quarterfinals here yesterday.

The vocal Lehigh supporters in the Penn Palestra found little to cheer about when Beling took a commanding 9-2 lead in the second period before Newbern suddenly injured his knee.

Beling squares off against seventh seed Nick Mygas of Navy in tomorrow's second semi-final bout of the heavyweight division. The winner of Beling's bout enters the finals and is assured of a spot in the NCAA championship in Maryland.

Tom Bixby, at 150 lbs., and Sal D'Agostino in the 190-lb. division were the only other Crimson grapplers to win their opening bouts yesterday. Unfortunately, both matmen found themselves in the consolation brackets when they lost in the quarterfinals.

Paul Supchak. who defeated the number-one seed in the 150-lb. class earlier in the day, out-muscled Bixby en route to a 15-2 decision. On a quick and questionable call, third-seeded Dave Gregrow pinned D'Agostino at 2:50.

Late last night, Bixby faced defending champion Steve Traylor in the wrestlebacks, which began at 10 p.m. Traylor, last year's defending champion at 142 lbs., defeated Bixby, 9-3.

In other consolation matches. Penn's Ed Roland decisioned Harvard's Jim Franklin at 167 lbs., and D'Agostino picked up a forfeit and still has a chance of placing in the tournament.

Six Crimson matmen were eliminated from the tournament following opening losses. When the first round opponents fell in the quarterfinals, Ray Dominguez, Rick Kief, Ray Cooper, Jim Corcoran, Bill Mulvihill and Tony Cimmarusti became ineligible for the wrestlebacks.

After the end of the first day's competitions, Princeton (42.25) held a slim lead over Lehigh (40.5), Temple (36.5), Syracuse (32.25) and Navy (29). Harvard (8.75) stood in tenth place holding a precarious .25 point lead over Columbia. Yale, Cornell and Pennsylvania trailed in the 12th, 13th and 14th spots.