Harvard, which captured first place at the season-opening Ivy League Kick-Off Classic and finished ninth at the prestigious Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, traveled to Oahu, Hawaii, to celebrate the New Year and, by-the-by, battle four wrestling powerhouses -- Portland State, Brigham Young University (BYU), Purdue University, and Air Force -- at the Aloha Classic.

"Right now we are beating teams we're supposed to be beating, but losing to teams that are expected to beat us," says senior tri-captain Joel Friedman. "[It is] time to start stepping it up." Above: Matt Picarsic '01

Led by senior tri-captains Joel Friedman at 149 and Dustin DeNunzio at 141, who each collected four wins at the Brigham Young- hosted event, the Crimson soundly defeated Portland State (36-10) and Air Force (26-16), but was unable to sustain the depth and strength of the nationally ranked BYU Cougars (22-9) and (Purdue) Boilermakers (23-13).

"We wrestled two teams in the Top 20 and that is obviously what we're looking to do, but we were focusing on the individual matches," said head coach Jay Weiss, guiding his team without senior captain Fran Volpe, who was out due to injury. "We brought 19 wrestlers and all of them wrestled, which I was happy about. When you go somewhere like that, it takes its toll and I thought that we were a little tired from the trip, but we'll be all right. As far as bonding, the trip helped a lot."

Joel Friedman '98-99.

In the team's two victories, Brandon Rhoades continued his impressive freshman campaign at 125 by posting two wins, while sophomore Matt Picarsic followed suit by defeating the Vikings' Aquila Knopf and the Falcons' Andy Peters. Picarsic, who currently holds a 14-8 individual record, also claimed a 2-1 decision over Purdue's Josh Hutchins, the No. 11-ranked wrestler in the nation at 133.

Despite a 3-2 loss against BYU's Rangi Smart, the second- ranked wrestler in the nation at 165, junior Joey Killar rallied for three wins at the Classic. Freshman Dawid Rechul also improved his individual record to 12-4 with two wins in Hawaii.

"Right now we are beating teams we're supposed to be beating, but losing to teams that are expected to beat us," Friedman said. "[It is] time to start stepping it up."

En route to Cambridge, the Harvard wrestlers made a quick stop at Stanford to knock off the Cardinals, 22-12.

Kevin Kurtz '00

Stanford's Tim Kendall won at 184 pounds against freshman Andy Kalman, giving the host team an early lead, but Harvard won five of the next six matches to take a commanding 19-6 lead. DeNunzio led the charge once again with a pin in just 1:08.

The Crimson are just ending their two-week exam break before jumping back into the heart of the season, first taking on Army at West Point, N.Y., on Jan. 29 and then No. 14 Lehigh the following night.

"When I first took over here I thought it [the exam break] would be impossible, but it actually helps us and this year it will be the same," said Weiss. "It is a great time for people with injuries to heal up and for the team to rest both mentally and physically. We won't have the monotony of two-hour practices every day, while other teams are going at it with double sessions and getting sick of the sport."