Swimmers to Take On Lions

The undefeated varsity swimming team, fresh from a 57-37 trouncing of Cornell last week end, takes on a none too fearsome Columbia squad tonight at 8 p.m. in the I.A.B.

Lions don't take to water, and Columbia usually wages a season-long battle to stay out of last place in the Ivy League. Last year the Light Blues set new Columbia records in seven events without even turning over in their snug beds in the cellar of the Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League.

Early predictions would give the Crimson an easy victory this evening. The Columbia Spectator analyzed the Lion squad's prospects with pre-season gloom:

"Many of the swimmers who contributed to last year's 7-10 record (all seven wins were in out-of-league meets) have been lost through graduation and other reasons. Joe Goldenberg and Fred Storm, who each hold or share five Columbia records, have graduated along with the diving record-holder Ed Fisher. Three promising sophomores, Bob Jacobs, Fred Spin, and Charlie Wahl, decided to forsake swimming for their studies and did not go out for the team in November."

This leaves Captain John Modell and sophomore Bob Nash as the most powerful Columbia threats. Modell can swim any event on the program and specializes in the long freestyle races. Nash broke every existing freshman freestyle record for the Light Blue last year, and has been switched to the butterfly on the varsity.

These two stars are good enough to provide a lot of competition for the Crimson, and they may well be able to steal a good number of points. But Columbia's 18-man squad does not have the depth to have much of a chance in tonight's meet.