Wrestling's Caputo and O'Connor Advance to EIWA Finals

Photo of Steven Keith courtesy of Gil Talbot.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. –Three Harvard wrestlers will compete for a top six finish at the 106th EIWA Championships tomorrow. Seniors Louis Caputo and J.P. O’Connor advanced to the finals at their respective weight classes and are guaranteed bids to the NCAA Championships, while freshman Steven Keith needs to win one more match to earn a spot in national tournament.

Keith avenged an earlier season loss to Kyle Gilchrist of Columbia in his first match of the day, earning and8-2 win at 125 pounds. After falling to the nation’s No. 1 grappler in Troy Nickerson of Cornell, Keith defeated Lance Penhale in the consolation round, 5-3. He will meet the third seed Jason Borschoff of American for a chance to go for third.

O’Connor advanced to his fourth straight EIWA final with two bonus point wins and another decision. The nation’s No. 1 wrestler at 157 pounds started the tournament off with a 12-1 win over Army’s Daniel Young and then earned a 16-0 technical fall over Princeton’s Danny Scotton. O’Connor will meet American’s Steve Fittery in the final. The Oxford, N.Y., native is 29-0 on the season and has 126 career wins.

Caputo used two major decisions and a sudden victory win to make his way into his second EIWA final. Caputo, the 2008 champion at 184 pounds defeated the 2009 title holder David Craig, 3-1, in sudden victory to earn his spot in the final against No. 1 seed and fourth-ranked Mike Cannon of American. Caputo us 22-2 on the season and has 125 career wins.

The consolation finals begin at 10 a.m. Sunday morning followed by the championship finals at 3 p.m.

125 - Steven Keith
def. No. 8 seed Kyle Gilchrist (Columbia), D, 8-2
fell to No. 2/No. 1 seed Troy Nickerson (Cornell), F, 2:46
def. Lance Penhale (Army), D, 5-3

133 – Fermin Mendez
fell to No. 14/No. 2 seed Matt Fisk (Lehigh) F, 1:16
fell to Cortlandt Choate (Brown), TF, 19-3 (3:00)

157 – No. 1/No. 1 seed J.P. O’Connor
def. Daniel Young (Army), Md, 12-1
def. No. 8 seed Danny Scotton (Princeton), TF, 16-0 (3:41)
def. No. 4 seed Daryl Cocozzo (Rutgers) D, 6-3

165- Adam Hogue
fell to No. 5 seed Stephen Burak (Penn), F, 5:29
fell to Robby Neill (Navy), Md, 9-1

174- Paul Lalo
fell to No. 14/No. 2 seed Scott Griffin (Penn), F, 5:22
fell to Michael Billings (Navy), D, 8-7

184- No. 4/No. 2 seed Louis Caputo
def. Kurt Brendel (Princeton), D, 8-0
def. Bran Crudden () Md, 10-2
def. No. 14/No. 3 seed David Craig (Lehigh), D, 3-1 sv

197- Sean Murphy
fell to No. 5/No. 1 seed Cam Simaz (Cornell) F, 2:54
fell to Lamar Brown (Rutgers), Md, 15-6

285- Spencer DeSena
fell to No. 8 seed Tyler Blakely (Penn), D, 7-0
fell to Joseph McMillian (Bucknell) D, 10-4