“I’m sure he’s thinking about [the loss], but he will make every change he needs to make come March,” O’Connor said. “[Caputo] wrestled really tough in the toughest weight class of the tournament, and he wrestled pretty damn well, so he’ll be back to where he needs to be soon enough.”

Another wrestler on the brink of success was Peppelman, whose third-place effort demonstrated tremendous improvement over last season. Although the sophomore fell to eventual champion Donnie Vinson, 2-0, in the semifinals, his strong showing earned praise from Weiss.

“Peppelman was awesome today,” the coach said. “[Vinson] is ranked 11th in the country, and one year ago today, he beat [Peppelman] 12-2. Walter made up some ground.”

If the Crimson’s strong rookie class shows as much improvement as Peppelman over the past year, Harvard will be in place to contend on a national stage.

“These tournaments are huge for us to practice,” Weiss said. “[Today] was so valuable for us, and we are all pleased with how this young group started.”

—Staff writer Max N. Brondfield can be reached at mbrondf@fas.harvard.edu.