In one of the more remarkable individual upsets in recent Harvard sports history, sophomore Patrick O'Donnell defeated the nation's top-ranked wrestler in the 165-pound weight class on Saturday at the Lone Star Duals in Dallas, TX.

O'Donnell battled back from an 8-4 second period deficit against Iowa State's Joe Heskett to tie the score and force overtime. After an extra period that still found the score tied, O'Donnell turned Heskett over from the bottom position for a tilt to take the match, 10-8.

"In terms of confidence, this was a key win for me," O'Donnell said. "This was the first match where I felt I was really focused the whole way."

Harvard performed well across the board at the meet, in which the upstart program faced the fourth, sixth and eighth-ranked teams in the country in Iowa State, Oklahoma and Nebraska, respectively. Although the Crimson fell to all three opponents, Harvard picked up several substantial individual victories and lost close matches to several ranked opponents.

No win, however, approached the magnitude of O'Donnell's triumph against Haskett. The two-time All-American had been the top seed at last year's NCAA Championships where he ultimately finished second. Heskett had held the No. 1 position in the national rankings for almost all of the past two years.

Haskett had recently gone undefeated in capturing the Midlands Wrestling Championships in Evanston, Ill., one of the most prestigious tournaments on the collegiate schedule. Haskett had sported a flawless 16-0 record this year, and an 84-4 record for his career.

"Anytime you beat someone at his level, it's pretty unexpected," co-captain Francis Volpe said.

The fact that O'Donnell was the one to take Heskett out was even more surprising. O'Donnell had originally come to the Crimson as a 174-pounder, but had to adjust to a new class because that position was already occupied by All-American Ed Mosley '00.