Yale Swimming Team Has Superstars, Depth, Tradition, and Don Schollander

America's premier amateur athlete and the greatest dynasty in collegiate swimming come to the indoor Athletic Building Saturday in the form of freshman Don Schollander, winner of four gold medals at the Olympic Games, and the Yale swimming juggernaut, winner of 38 straight dual swimming meets.

Every college has to have "its" sport. And at Yale that sport is swimming. On Saturday afternoons throughout the winter, Yale's Payne Whitney Gymansium takes on the air of a massive temple into which the faithful file past long corridors of swimming trophies to watch the water animals perform.

Yale's varsity roster lists some 69 swimmers, including 24 seniors (Harvard's by comparison, has 26, including two seniors), and most of them never get to swim in more than a pre-season meet or one of the Yalies' three practice pools. But this fantastic depth brings results; Yale has no fewer than 11 swimmers who can do the 200-yard freestyle in under 1:49.0, a Harvard University record earlier this year.

Aquaphilia is not limited to the varsity. Yale's freshman team is probably the strongest in the country, and has two Olympians in Schollander and freestyler-butterflyer Bill Mettler. Schollander can do the 200 in well under 1:45.0, while Mettler holds the freshman butterfly record of 2:01.7.

Clark Leads Varsity

Leading the Eli varsity is captain and freestlyer Steve Clark, winner of three Olympic gold medals and holder of the world record of 52.9 for the 100 meters. Last week against Princeton, Clark came off the bench and swam an incredible 45.9 100-yard anchor lap to win the freestyle relay.

Behind Clark are Olympians Ed Townsend, a consistent two-minute individual medley man, and Dave Lyons, a freestyler and butterfly expert. Backstroker Roger Goettsche swam the 200-yard backstroke in 1:57.4 last year, about ten seconds better than Harvard's best. Dale Kiefer, like Lyons and Goettsche a graduate of New Trier High School, took second in the 200-yard breaststroke in the NCAA championships last year with a time of 2:13.1.

Yale's "second-stringers" would be super-stars at most other places. Against Princeton, the Yalies had enough depth to win, 72-23, without swimming anyone in more than one individual event. Only in the butterfly and the dive will the Crimson varsity be favored; and freshman Bill Shrout will have to put on the performance of his life to beat Schollander and Mettler in the freestlye events.

If you don't have tickets, don't despair. The meet will be carried live on Channel 38.