Swimmers Break Records But Army Prevails, 49-46

The varsity swimming team smashed two University records and gave Army the scare of its life at West Point Saturday before the powerful Cadets pulled out the meet, 49-46. Sophomore Neville Hayes led the Crimson swimmers in a 54.2 butterfly leg on the record breaking medley relay. Hayes's winning time in the 200-yard butterfly was a fantastic 1:57.6, breaking by almost six seconds the old Army pool record of 2:03.4 and smashing his own University record of 2:00.5 set last year as a freshman.

Predictably, the meet's results did not come out according to plan. The Crimson raced to a record medley relay victory and broke up Army's domination of the individual freestyle events, only to lose the meet in the individual medley and the final freestyle relay.

In the opening medley relay, coach Bill Brooks gambled that Army would withhold ace freestyler Tony Clay. Backstroker Tony Fingleton, breaststroke Bruce Fowler, and Hayes combined to give freestyler Jim Seubold a slight lead, and Brook's gamble paid off as Seubold pulled away to win by a full length in 3:43.3. The time broke the University record of 3:43.9 set against Yale in 1961.

Army had Clay in the 200 freestyle, however, and the speedy senior took the event in 1:51.6. Crimson captain Dave Abramson edged Army's Jerry Merges for second. In the 50-yard freestyle, Harvard's John Quinn surprised the Cadets by almost taking first from Army's Steve Bliss who won in 23.1.

But the Cadets swept the individual medley, and though Seubold took second in the 100 freestyle and Fingleton took second in the backstroke, the meet came down to the final freestyle with Harvard just four points ahead. The varsity did not falter, however, and went on to sweep the 500 freestyle and the breaststroke in addition to winning the butterfly and the dive.

In the dive, Dan Mahoney had to overcome the judges as well as Army diver Errol Alexander to win. Trailing after four good dives, he racked up an impressive 96 points on the last two plunges or the victory.

Abramson took second behind Hayes in he 500 freestyle and Bob Corris and Fowler combined to sweep the breaststroke in a time of 2:20.0.

Army was ready and favored in the final relay, and when Eric Klaussmann missed a turn on the second leg, the Cadets merely had their job made easier. They won the relay in 3:23.1 and the meet by three points.

Shrout Leads Frosh Win

In the freshmen contest, four of Coach Benn Merritt's swimmers swam three events each as the Yardlings beat the Plebes 53-42, winning in the final relay. The four, Phil Chase, Stephen Coy, Peter Adams, and Bill Shrout scored 34 points together and took the freestyle without trouble in 3:25.3.