Grapplers to Face Two Top 25 Teams at Lone Star Duals

The Story Line
The Harvard wrestling team travels to Arlington, Texas for the 2010 Hilton Arlington Lone Star Duals. The Crimson will face two of the nation’s top teams when it meets No. 11 Oklahoma, No. 23 Arizona State and Utah Valley Saturday.

Lone Star Duals
This will be the 10th year in a row at the Lone Star Duals for the Crimson. Historically, Harvard has competed against some of the nation’s top-ranked teams such as Iowa State, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State at this tournament.

Schedule
11 a.m. vs. No. 232 Arizona State
1 p.m. vs. No. 10 Oklahoma
7 p.m. vs. Utah Valley State

Tough Competition
Thirteen top 20 wrestlers could compete this weekend. Oklahoma has eight ranked wrestlers, while Arizona State boasts three, the Crimson has two and Utah Valley State has one. The only match that could pit two ranked grapplers against each other is at 157 pounds with No. 1 J.P. O’Connor against No. 11 Shane Vernon.

Scouting the Sooners
Oklahoma heads to the Lone Star Duals with an 8-1-1 dual record after wins over Bucknell, No. 14 Penn State and Virginia at the Virginia Duals. The Sooners lost to then No. 11 Lehigh, 18-16, to finish third overall at the Virginia Duals.

Scouting the Sun Devils
Arizona State is 4-4 on the season after falling to Ohio State and Wisconsin at the NWCA National Duals last weekend. The Sun Devils finished fourth at the Reno Tournament and 11th at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational.

Scouting the Wolverines
Utah Valley is 3-0 in dual action this season, but has not wrestled a dual meet since Nov. 20. The Wolverines’ wins came against Gardner-Webb and UNC Greensboro. Utah Valley finished 29th at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational and 23rd at Midlands.

Last Time Out
The Crimson went 1-1-1 last weekend competing against Franklin & Marshall, Rutgers and Hofstra. Senior captains Louis Caputo and J.P. O’Connor and freshman Steven Keith went 3-0 on the weekend with Caputo winning all three matches by bonus points and O’Connor picking up his second win by fall this season. Freshman Anthony Buxton went 2-1 on the weekend, while freshman Chadwick Eason and junior Michael Sadler each earned a victory.

Moving up the Charts
J.P O’Connor is just one win away from tying Dustin DeNunzio ’99 for second on the all-time wins list at Harvard. O’Connor has 114 career victories. Louis Caputo is tied with Ed Mosley’00 for fourth all-time with 111 career wins. NCAA Champion Jesse Jantzen ’04 holds the program record with 132 total victories.

Speaking of Charts
J.P. O'Connor ranks No. 1 in the nation at 157 pounds, while Louis Caputo moved from 10th to seventh at 184 pounds. Ranks are from both Wrestling Insider Magazine (WIN) and the Intermat Wrestling NCAA Division I poll.

Home Sweet Home
After Harvard’s trip to Texas, the Crimson will finally compete at home. Harvard hosts Army and Boston University Jan. 30 in its first matches of the season at the Malkin Athletic Center. The Crimson remains at home for its Ivy League opener against Princeton Feb. 6, followed by a 3 p.m. match against Penn. The Crimson has one more match at home, a Valentine’s Day date with nationally ranked Lehigh.

Up Next
Harvard hosts Boston University Jan. 30 at 1 p.m. and Army at 5 p.m.