Harvard University Boston, MA

  Harvard Wrestling Adds Two-Time All-American Darrell Vasquez to Staff

Two-time All-American Darrell Vasquez joins Harvard wrestling staff as the coaching assistant for 2007-08 season.

Vasquez was a three-time PAC-10 place winner, three-time NCAA qualifier and two-time top-six finisher at the NCAA Championships for Cal Poly. After red shirting his freshman season, Vasquez compiled a 30-7 overall record, finished as the runner-up at 133 pounds at the PAC 10 tournament and took sixth at the NCAAs in St. Louis, Mo., in 2004. After a breakout first-year performance, Vasquez earned a No. 2 preseason ranking before illness sidelined him for the 2004-05 season.

In 2005-06, Vasquez returned to the mat where he placed third at the PAC-10 tournament and qualified for his second NCAA Championships. In 2006-07, the senior compiled a 28-3 mark en route to an undefeated conference record and a PAC 10 championship. He went on to finish fifth at the NCAA Championships.

The native of Bakersfield, Calif., was the first four-time high school state champion in California history. He received the Dave Schultz Award as Champion of Champions in 2001 and 2002.

Vasquez is currently finishing his degree in business from Cal Poly.

Harvard's Caputo and O'Connor Make it to Finals: Crimson in Seventh

East Stroudsburg, Pa. ˆ The Harvard wrestling team stands in seventh place at 103rd EIWA Championships with five grapplers still in the competition. Two Crimson wrestlers will compete for an EIWA title including freshman J.P. O'Connor and sophomore <>Louis Caputo.

O'Connor rolled into the 149 pound championship final with three wins on Friday, including two by bonus points. With a 9-0 win over Jack Barrett of Rutgers in the second round, O'Connor became the winningest freshman in Harvard school history with 31 wins. His 9-3 win over Navy's John Cox in the semifinals gives the newcomer a 32-5 record. O'Connor will meet No. 3 Jordan Leen in the finals. Leen and O'Connor met earlier this year in the Cornell dual with Leen surviving a 5-3 decision.

At 184 pounds, Caputo won three matches to earn a spot in the championship finals against Navy's Anontio Miranda who upset No. 1 seed David Craig in the semifinals. Caputo started his second EIWA Championships off with a 16-0 technical fall over Anthony Fuschino of American in 5:23. The sophomore's next two bouts were a 2-0 win over Scott Ferguson of Army and a 4-2 win versus Cornell's Joshua Amone in the semifinals. Caputo improves to 26-7 overall.

Senior <>Robbie Preston, who has battled injuries over the last few weeks returned to competition for the first time since a 5-1 loss to defending national champion Matt Valenti Feb. 3, won his first two matches by decision. The third seed defeated Rutgers' Dan Hill, 6-1 and Columbia's Matt DeLorenzo, 6-2 to earn a spot in the semifinals against Adam Frey.

Frey had a 6-4 lead with a little over a minute remaining in the match, but after giving up a point for stalling and with a Preston takedown, the Harvard wrestler led 7-6 after regulation. With 1:09 in riding time, Frey grabbed the extra point to take the match into the sudden victory round. Frey won the match scoring a takedown.

On of the biggest upsets of the day was a loss by No. 1 seed <>Max Meltzer in the first round at 141 pounds. The senior tri-captain was pinned in the first round by American's Kyle Borshoff in 3:22, but recovered winning three straight matches to set up a meeting with Penn's Brett McCurdy. Meltzer, who is ranked 15th in the nation, defeated F&M's Al Gianforti by fall in 1:54, Cornell's Corey Manson, 7-2 and Navy's Brad Canterbury, 10-3 to earn his spot in the consolation match to go from third place.

Junior <>Bobby Latessa earned the fourth seed at 157 pounds and came out with a 2-1 mark on the day. Latessa defeated Andrew Smith of F&M by major decision and Christian Snook of Army in overtime to land in the semifinals against No. 1 seed Matt Dragon. After a scoreless first period, Latessa chose neutral to start the second and neither wrestler was able to score. Dragon chose bottom to start the third and escaped for the only point of the match. Latessa will challenge Columbia's Devin Mesanko for a spot in the third-place bout tomorrow morning.

Freshman <>Frankie Colletta went 2-2 at 165 pounds, but was knocked out of the tournament in the consolation round by No. 8 seed Shawn Kitchner. Classmates <>Fred Rowsey picked up a win in the consolation round but was knocked out of the 174 pound competition by No. 5 Rudy Rueda.

Freshman <>Ryan Fitzgerald (125) and Andrew Knapp (285) and junior <>Billy Colgan (197) also competed but were unable to come up with a victory.

Cornell leads the team race with 112.5 points with eight wrestlers still competing, including six in the finals. Navy is second with seven grapplers still going and 90.5 points. Penn is third with 82 points and three in the championship finals. American is fourth with 61.5 points, followed by Lehigh with 61 and Columbia with 60. The Crimson is seventh with 56 points.

Action continues tomorrow morning from the Koehler Fieldhouse at 11 a.m.