“That was a horrendous call,” Weiss said about the holding. “When you got a bottom guy going flat to his stomach it’s obviously a stall. It’s a dumb call.”

Esposito’s third and final point came in the closing seconds when he earned an escape. Jantzen earned a ninth because he had over a minute of riding time.

Winning the outstanding wrestler award was by no means a foregone conlusion for Jantzen. The other wrestlers in consideration for the honor were Nebraska’s No. 1 Jason Powell (125 lbs.), who scored a technical foul over Illinois’ No. 6 Kyle Ott, and No. 1 Oklahom State’s Chris Pendleton (174 lbs.) who defeated Missouri’s No. 6 Ben Askren 11-4 and had both a pin and a technical fall earlier in the tourney.

“I thought he was going to win, but I’m kind of biased,” Weiss said.

Jantzen had a very impressive NCAA performance of his own. He had two major decisions, a technical fall in the first round and his closest match, decided by three points. This nail biter was against Brown’s David Dies, who Jantzen beat by just one point the first time he saw him this year.

The crowd also seemed to be pulling for Jantzen more than any of the other wrestler that day. Though the Cowboys brought the largest cheering section by far to St. Louis—their sea of orange filled nearly three full sections in the stands—all the remaining fans seemed to be rooting for Jantzen to come out on top.

“I’ve never had so many coaches, wrestlers, retired wrestlers, fans, whatever, come up to me and just say, ‘Good luck; we’re out pulling for Jesse,’” Weiss said. “Because those people who know Jesse know that he deserved that medal.”Adding to the excitement was the fact that the Jantzen-Esposito match was one of just two where the No. 1 and No. 2 seed met each other in the final round. The only other occurrence was in the 165-lb. category, where Lehigh’s Troy Letters upset the Cowboys’ Tyrone Lewis, 5-2.

“He’s popular for a good reason,” Harkness said. “He’s a very appealing guy and very hard working, and he’s just done a wonderful job.”

As a team, Harvard ended up finishing in 22nd, thanks in large part to an outstanding performance by freshman heavyweight Bode Ogunwole. Sophomore Max Meltzer (141 lbs.) and co-captain Reggie Lee (197 lbs.) had less exciting performances, but rounded out the four NCAA qualifiers for the Crimson, the most since the squad sent six in 2001.

—Staff writer Evan R. Johnson can be reached at erjohns@fas.harvard.edu.