In his previous match at 197 lbs., one week ago against No. 6 Cornell, Fox was one of two Crimson wrestlers to earn victories against the Big Red. But while Fox had the opportunity to pin his opponent, he was unable to notch the decisive fall.
He secured that pin this time around. Indeed, Fox’s eighth victory of the season gave his team much-needed momentum heading into the final matchup of the afternoon.
“Fox is an amazing wrestler,” Gajdzik said. “His pin was huge. It gave us six points in the team score, so when I went out there to wrestle, I basically had to not get pinned.”
Even though he only had to avoid a pin for Harvard to win the dual meet, the heavyweight pulled off an overtime decision, 3-1, against BU senior Kevin Innis.
After grinding out three periods, the match was tied, 1-1, going into overtime.
Gajdzik countered a quick shot from Innis and got behind for a match-winning takedown.
“The guy I wrestled was a really solid wrestler,” Gajdzik said. “The mentality I tried to go out with is [that] every match is winnable. You have to wrestle your match.”
The Crimson will hold the Charles Cup, the trophy awarded to the victor of the rivalry for the foreseeable future, as Boston University’s wrestling program, which currently sits four games below .500, was cut for next season to free up funding for other programs.
After losing the cup for three straight years, Harvard has most recently won it in back-to-back seasons.
“BU is one of our rivals, and we battle for the Charles Cup,” said Fox. “Since wrestling is getting cut, we wanted to win the final Cup.”
In addition to the hardware, the victory has given the Crimson confidence as the team heads towards the meat of its schedule. Harvard is now 3-4 in dual meets after posting an 8-5 record last year.
“This win is huge. BU is a very good team, and I think it legitimizes what we are doing,” Gajdzik said. “That’s the kind of energy we need to push us forward for the rest of the season. It showed that we are going to be ready for the postseason.”
—Staff writer Jacob W. Lynch can be reached at jacoblync@gmail.com.