Jan. 3, 2009
Arlington, Texas - Wrestling for the first time with a full 10-wrestler lineup, the Stanford wrestling squad (3-6, 0-2 Pac-10) suffered a close loss to Harvard at the Lonestar Duals in Arlington, Texas this morning. The Cardinal will wrestle two more duals later today, taking on Army at 4 p.m. (CT) and No. 11 Oklahoma at 8 p.m. (CT).
The Cardinal, which won four of ten bouts, had battled back to tie going into the final bout. Harvard junior Andrew Knapp earned the winning decision over Stanford's Jake Johnson (19-10) to clinch the Crimson win, however, dropping the Cardinal to 3-6 on the year.
Stanford was led by freshman Nick Amuchastegui (14-4) and senior Luke Feist (12-5), who both earned pins in the dual.
The morning started at 125 pounds, where Stanford sophomore Austin Quarles (2-3) took a forfeit and quickly gave the Cardinal a 6-0 lead. Harvard used the next two bouts to pull into a tie, however. Freshman Matt Sencenbaugh (5-15), Stanford's usual 125-pounder, lost a 5-1 decision at 133 pounds, then sophomore Cameron Teitelman (9-7) lost a 9-2 decision at 141 pounds to the nation's second-ranked wrestler, Corey Jantzen.
Sophomore Max Rosefigura (12-10) was pinned in the 149-pound bout to give Harvard a 12-6 lead.
At 157 pounds, sophomore Lucas Espericueta (18-7) put up a fight against two-time All-American JP O'Connor, but ended up dropping a 9-1 major decision to the third-ranked Harvard junior.
Down 16-6, Amuchastegui took the mat in the 165-pound match and pinned Crimson sophomore Michael Sadler in the first period (1:45). Sophomore Kyle Barrett (4-3) then earned a 5-1 win over Harvard freshman Bryan Panzano at 174 pounds to bring Stanford within one, 16-15.
Another All-American, Louis Caputo, gave Harvard a small cushion back with a 17-0 technical fall over freshman Victor Haug (6-12) at 184 pounds, extending the lead to 21-15 with two bouts to go.
Feist stepped up for the Cardinal at 197 pounds and pinned the seventh opponent in his last 11 matches. The senior put freshman Sean Murphy on his back in 6:01 and tied the score heading into the final bout. Feist, who is already within one pin of the school's single-season top-10 list (8), currently stands sixth all-time on The Farm with 22 pins in his career.
Johnson then battled Knapp in the heavyweight bout, but Knapp won a 5-2 decision to seal the victory for the Crimson.
Stanford, which wrestles duals 12 hours apart today, wrestles Army in its next match at 4 p.m. (CT).
Note: Cardinal junior Zack Giesen (5-2) competed at the Midlands Championship in Evanston, Ill. earlier this week. Giesen went 1-2 Monday and Tuesday at 184 pounds.
Stanford 21, Harvard 24
125 - Austin Quarles (S) by forfeit
133 - Thomas Picarsic (H) dec. Matt Sencenbaugh (S), 5-1
141 - No. 2 Corey Jantzen (H) dec. Cameron Teitelman (S), 9-2
149 - Walter Peppelman (H) pinned Max Rosefigura (S), 4:17
157 - No. 3 JP O'Connor (H) maj. dec. Lucas Espericueta (S), 9-1
165 - Nick Amuchastegui (S) pinned Michael Sadler (H), 1:45
174 - Kyle Barrett (S) dec. Bryan Panzano (H), 5-1
184 - No. 5 Louis Caputo (H) tech. fall Victor Haug (S), 17-0
197 - Luke Feist (S) pinned Sean Murphy (H), 6:01
HWT - Andrew Knapp (H) dec. Jake Johnson (S), 5-2