Mermen Edged by Tigers, 40-35

Two tank titans squared off in jam-packed Brokaw Pool Saturday afternoon, and an inspired group of Tigers toppled Harvard from the undefeated ranks with a 40 to 35 victory. It was a meet full of close finishes, good times, and upsets, but in the end Princeton unexpectedly had the necessary strength in the sprints to cop the final relay in 3:38.6, almost two yards ahead of Harvard and sparkling time for the notoriously slow Nassau pool.

Small Tom Sullivan and Sophomore Bill Crawford, the latter only swimming for his second year, were responsible for the Princeton relay triumph. Leadoff man Sullivan did about 54 flat and picked up a yard and a half on Tom Shrewsbury, and John Clark tacked on another yard to this margin against Lonnie Stowell. Frannie Powers wiped out all of the deficit against Ned Parke and gave Art Bosworth a lead of about one foot, but the tired Bosworth was unable to keep up with Crawford--he was close to 53 flat.

Previous to the relay the Ulenmen had weathered a couple of minor disasters in the 50 and backstroke, and had seen Captain Frannie Powers write a brilliant conclusion to his long rivalry with Captain Ned Parke of Princeton with firsts in the 220 and 100. Parke was not in good shape for this meet, however, having only recently recovered from a serious infection.

Harvard's Lonnie Stowell and Ted McNitt were shut out in the unpredictable 50. and a red-hot Scott Scammell nipped Art Bosworth as well as Bill Drucker in the backstroke. On the other hand, Bob White also upset the dope bucket by getting an easy second in the breaststroke, only being beaten by about a foot for a first by Art McClure in 2:37.5. Max Kraus' third there was another big surprise.

The rest of the meet went according to Hoyle right down to the final relay. Princeton took the medley quite easily, Con Doran was too good for Shaw McCalcheon and Brad Patterson in the dive, and Bus Curwen and Tiny Gorman won the 440 in a walk. Neither coach would have bet much on the relay; it was bound to be touch-and-go.