The Harvard wrestling team was missing three of its starters at the Virginia Duals tournament this weekend, and that proved too much for the Crimson to overcome at one of its toughest tournaments of the season.
Harvard fell to Edinboro in the quarterfinals 24-9 after beating Ohio University 19-16 in the first round. The Crimson mirrored that performance in the consolation round, roaring back from an 18-0 deficit to defeat Hofstra 21-20, but then fell 19-18 to Virginia Tech in the consolation quarters.
"All in all, it was a great weekend," said Harvard Coach Jay Weiss. "These kids took a big jump this weekend. We had a very inexperienced group and they still battled for two big wins and came extremely close against Virginia Tech."
"We had three starters out and we had freshmen in at six of the ten weight classes," co-captain Joey Killar said. "Considering that, we did well and it was good experience for them."
Lightweight David Germakian was one of those freshmen fill-ins, and he scored a surprise 9-6 win over Paul Hernandez to set-up the Crimson first-round victory. He executed a second period reversal and a three-point near-fall for the win.
Germakian started in place of injured sophomore Brandon Rhoades.
"It was his first duals meet," Killar said. "To pick up the first-round win was very good."
Killar had the other crucial victory at 165 pounds in the match, pinning John Wervey at the end of the third period after scoring a three-point near-fall in the second. The bonus points for the pin proved to be the margin of victory.
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