Lions Defeat Harvard, Brown to Climb to Third Place in Ivy League

The Columbia wrestling team took on Harvard and Brown this weekend, defeating both the Crimson and the Bears. These two contests gave the Lions the chance to boost their league standings, and the Light Blue now sits in third place in the Ivy League.

The meet against Harvard coincided with Homecoming for Columbia. Competing on Friday at home, the Lions defeated the Crimson—one of the main contenders for the metaphorical bronze medal in the league—with a final score of 26-14.

The Light Blue jumped to an early 6-0 lead when the Crimson was forced to forfeit the first bout. Harvard, however, would not stay behind for long, coming out strong in the next three matchups to defeat the Lions and take the lead, 10-6. In the following two bouts, two sophomores from Columbia helped to swing the momentum away from Harvard. Matt Dunn, who wrestled in the 157-pound weight class, was able to get the Lions back on track with a win over Craig Carpenter.

The Light Blue got its second lead of the day when Victor Mocco beat Michael Sadler by a score of 11-3. The Lions put the meet out of Harvard’s reach when the upper-weight class wrestlers defeated the Crimson in important bouts. Nick Sommerfeld and Lou Miller were key to Columbia’s triumph over Harvard. After the victory, Columbia looked toward completing its dual meet season with an Ivy matchup against Brown.
Saturday’s meet marked the last home contest for the Columbia seniors. The senior class would provide the necessary wins to end the season in third place in the league.

The meet opened with senior co-captain Brandon Kinney defeating Mike Piccirillo from Brown. Kinney recorded a near fall at the end of the bout and won with a score of 10-2. This gave the Light Blue an early 4-0 advantage, but Brown battled back to take the lead 7-4. It was not until senior Anthony Constantino wrestled that the Lions were able to take a pull away from the Bears. Constantino’s win over Mark Bloom was followed by important victories from Dunn, Mocco, and Travis Creagan. These critical wins are what allowed the Light Blue to come away with the wins needed to win the meet 23-14.

The Lions are out of action until they travel to Lancaster, Penn. to compete in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association Championships on March 8. After EIWAs, Columbia will look to qualify wrestlers for the NCAA Championships in St. Louis.