Junior co-captain Jesse Jantzen placed third at this weekend‘s highly competitive Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, but the Harvard wrestling team felt it turned in a disappointing performance overall.

The invitational is one of the premier tournaments of the year and features such national powerhouses as No. 3 Minnesota, No. 5 Ohio State and No. 6 Michigan. No. 25 Harvard (Wrestling Mall Div. I rankings) is one of only two Ivy League schools that competed in the tournament.

Only one Crimson wrestler other than Jantzen—freshman Mike Baria (141 lbs.)—advanced to even the third round.

“For most guys on the team, we didn’t get the results we wanted, as far as wins and losses,” senior Pat O’Donnell said.

Third-ranked Jantzen (149 lbs.) was one of the few highlights for the Crimson. He dominated the competition, recording two major decisions, two technical falls and one pin to finish the tournament 6-1.

Jantzen’s only loss of the weekend came against No. 2 Eric Larkin of Arizona State in the semifinals, 10-4.

Jantzen’s loss eliminated him from the championship match and forced a consolation round battle against No. 5 Collin Robertson. Jantzen won 8-5 and qualified for the third place match.

In his final contest, Jantzen wrestled No. 14 Travis Shufelt, whom Jantzen had already defeated 10-7 in the quarterfinals. Though the pressure was higher, Jantzen remained unfazed and scored a major decision in an 11-2 victory.

Still, even a third place finish was not enough to satisfy the always competitive Jantzen, who hopes to win the national tournament in late March.

“I was definitely disappointed,” Jantzen said. “But it’s not the end of the year, so I still have time to improve.”

Though Jantzen was the top Crimson finisher, senior David Germakian (125 lbs.) was one of several Harvard wrestlers who finished the weekend on a high note.

“As far as guys that wrestled real well, he really took the next step,” O’Donnell said.

Germakian finished the weekend 4-2, winning four straight after falling 6-4 to No. 4 Jason Powell. Unfortunately, the winning streak forced Germakian to square off against Boise State’s Ben VomBaur, ranked third. VomBaur defeated Germakian, 9-0. Both VomBaur and Powell placed in the top three spots in the tournament

“[Germakian] just got a real rotten draw,” O’Donnell said.

O’Donnell wrestled well in the 174-pound weight class this weekend, scoring one of the biggest Crimson upsets.