Fowler, Corris, Hayes Will Pace Swim Team at Eastern Seaboards

Fifteen Crimson swimmers, competing today in the Eastern Seaboard Championships at Annapolis, will not bring any team honors to Harvard, but four or five individual performers should make strong showings.

Yale, winner of last year's championship, should win again this year, though Army and North Carolina are willing to put up a struggle. Army handed Yale its first dual loss in several years earlier in the season, but that was before Yale sophomores Don Schollander and Bill Mettler -- both Olympians -- became eligible.

Harvard has several swimmers who could cap first places, among them Captain Bruce Fowler in the 100-yard breaststroke. As a sophomore, he took the 100 in 1:02.1 for Harvard's only first place. Fowler had something of an off season last year, but his smooth 1:00.8 medley leg last week against Yale indicates he's ready to make a strong bid this year.

Another Crimson breaststroker, junior Bob Corris, will be a contender in the 200-yard event. He's got some formidable competition in Yale's Mike Buckley, whose 2:12.9 is the fastest time in the East this winter and some 2.8 seconds faster than the University record which Corris set last week. The rapidly improving Corris, who placed fifth in the event last year, is undefeated in dual competition and has not been really pressed all year. A showdown with Buckley, planned for the Yale meet last Saturday, was postponed because of the Yalie's illness.

Corris will probably swim in the individual medley also, but he's not in the class of Elis Schollander, Mettler, and Bill Wemple. Corris upset Princeton's highly touted Kris Brown in a dual meet and may manage to place in the top six at the Easterns.

Junior Neville Hayes, who has never lost in the 200-yard butterfly while at Harvard, will find some familiar tough company at the Easterns. There's Olympian Bill Mettler, whom Hayes edged by half a second at Yale last week; Army captain Frank Pratt, whose 1:58.2 is slightly higher than Hayes's seasonal best; and Princeton captain John Kalmach, who bowed to Hayes by two feet in the dual meet.

Hayes, one of those solid finishers who always manage to come through in the clutch, may let the faster sprinters set the pace before moving up in the last 50 yards. He went to the Easterns last year as the favorite, but could not compete because of a high fever and strept throat.

Crimson sophomore Bill Shrout will probably swim in the 100-yard freestyle, where his best time is 0:48.7, although he could land in the 50 or 200 also. Against Eli captain Joe Hill, Schollander, Army's Warren Trainor, and a couple of fine Princeton sprinters, he will have his work cut out for him to earn a place.

Harvard's most rapidly improving performer, sophomore Pete Adams, will be hoping to place in the 500-yard freestyle and may break the Harvard varsity record. His 5:05.9 losing effort to Yale's Rick Schneider last Saturday was only .7 of a second off the Varsity mark.

Harvard does not have much of a chance to place in other events.