What could have been the apex of Harvard wrestling history became the nadir of an up-and-down season for the Crimson Saturday afternoon, as the Big Red of Cornell defeated Harvard. 25-16, and all but clinched the Ivy League wrestling championship.

"We just didn't do the job today," said Crimson Coach Johnny Lee. "We expected a close match, but this is still very discouraging," he added. A Crimson victory on Saturday at the I.A.B., combined with a probable triumph over Yale next weekend, would have secured for Harvard its first Ivy wrestling crown. Instead, the Crimson can only wonder what went wrong.

After Co-Captain Paul Widerman's convincing 8-2 victory in the first match of the afternoon, the Crimson fell behind after the second match--never to regain the lead--as both freshmen Steve Beati and Dave Elien lost their matches by wide imagines, in the 126-lb, and 134-lb, weight classes respectively.

After Andy McNeritey pulled off a superior decision over Cornell Co-Captain Marty Heslin by scoring a near fall in the final moments of the 142-lb, competition, the Crimson suffered its first serious setback of the day when Cornell's Pat Watch pianed Harvard's First Campbell at the 3:44 mark of the next match.

Cornell's Mike Mankowich's crushing 23-4 decision over Dan Levay--who was substituting for the injured Sean Healey in the 158-lb. weight slot--opened up a 20-8 lead for the Big Red, and left a formidable task for Harvard's four heavyweights.

While Barry Busano scored a well-wrestled 7-0 victory over his Big Red opponent in a crucial match at 167 lbs., Sean Wallace then dropped a disappointing 5-0 decision to Cornell's Ken Griffin, an opponent many had expected Wallace to defeat handily.

Cornell's victory at 177 lbs, virtually settled the issue, leaving the Crimson with only a chance to tie with pins in the next two matches. Cornell galleried in the victory by stalemating Harvard's Kevin Wattlkes, who scored a 4-4 tie in the 190-lb, match. Even though Harvard had lost, the fans stayed to watch Crimson heavyweight sensation Jim Phills win an exciting 14-10 decision over Cornell's Dan Suren.

The defeat leaves the Crimson in second place in the Ivy League with a 3-1 record, 14-6 4-1 overall. As Lee said, "Cornell should visit the League now, but plenty of things could still happens."