While the season ended yesterday for two of the three Harvard wrestlers who had made it to the National Tournament in Oklahoma City, tri-captain Sean Wallace, kept the Crimson's hopes alive for a national finalist.
Wallace, wrestling in the 190-lb. weight class swept by Brian McCracken of Illinois with a technical pm at 5:11. His next opponent will be Missouri's Mark Cody, the sixth seed, Wallace was not seeded in the tournament.
Wallace, who compiled a 21-3 record before the Nationals, earned a spot in the tournament when he took third in the Eastern Invitational Tournament two weeks ago. The top three finishers in each weight class in the Easterns are invited to wrestle in the national finals.
Big Sky Blues
For tri-captain Barry Bananas who made in the nationals for the first time in his highly successful Harvard wrestling career (67-17-2 over the past four years), both the season and his Harvard wrestling career ended with a 13-11 loss to a Montana State wrestler.
Bausano was then automatically eliminated from the consolation rounds when the Montana State wrestler lost his next match
Jeff Clark, the first Harvard freshman ever to wrestle in the Nationals met the same late Bausano when he lost to unseeded Stan Vimstrong of Boise State by 10-3.
Clark, who was named the second runner up in the Ivy League Rookie of the Year balloting and who was just edged out by Jerry Rome of Wilkey College for Freshman of the Year honors in the Eastern Wrestliing Association, wrestled at 134 lbs.
Clark competed at 114-lb. on route to the national freestyle and Greco-Rp,am championships before coming to Harvard.
The freshman, who also completed at that weight at U.S. 1984 Olympic trails, was unseeded in his new weight class at the Nationals. According to Harvard Coach John Lee, Clark too small to dominate at 134 lbs way he has at in the post in lighter weight classes.
Clark (12-3-3 this year), who was seeded eighth at the Easterns two weeks ago, made a remarkable march all the way to the championship match, beating the number one seed and defending champion. Although he lost the championship match, his second place finish was strong enough to earn him a berth in the nationals.
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