Murphy, Cahalan Star, But Eli Mermen Triumph

Mike Cahalan and Bill Murphy were both double winners, but otherwise Harvard's varsity swimming team did not have the manpower to upset powerful Yale and lost, 71-42, Saturday afternoon in the IAB before the largest crowd of the season.

It was the 52nd consecutive win for the Eli mermen, and enabled them to complete another season as undefeated champions of the Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League. Harvard, with the help of clutch victories over Navy and Dartmouth, complied a 5-3 league record to finish in fourth place.

Despite the fact that Yale coach Phil Moriarty used his top men sparingly, it was reassuring for the Crimson to lose to the Elis by the same score that nationally first-ranked Stanford did. Princeton's total of 43 points is the most earned against Yale this season, and had Harvard not lost the final relay Saturday by two yards, the final score would have been 64-49.

First Crimson Winner

Cahalan, one of coach Bill Brooks' four outstanding sophomore freestylers, was superb against Yale. He was the first Crimson swimmer to win Saturday as he tied the pool record of 21.9 in the 200-free.

Later, he and Toby Gerhart netted the only Harvard sweep of the afternoon in the 200-free. In the first leg of the final relay, Cahalan built a four-yard lead over Bob Whitney before Yale captain and anchor-man Robin Waples rallied to win.

Murphy turned in another excellent performance in the diving, easily out-pointing his Eli opponents. On the basis of his diving this season, Murphy is the favorite to recapture the three-meter crown at the Eastern Seaboards next weekend at Yale.

There were two other highlights for Harvard partisans. Captain Martie Chalfie romped to victory in the butterfly, and workhorse Steve Krause broke his own Harvard record in the 1000-free with a 10:19.6 clocking. This was 1.2 seconds better than the former mark.

Better than Dowling

Otherwise, the story was all Yale. Olympian John Nelson, who swims better than Brian Dowling plays football, set two pool records by earning victories in the freestyles at 500 and 1000 yards.

Another Olympian, Dave Johnson, swam the 200-free in a quick 1:47.5 to nip Harvard's Dave Powlison, captured a second in the medley, and did a fast third leg in the final relay.

Coach Brooks was all smiles after the meet. He was extremely happy about the efforts of all his swimmers, and was especially pleased with Chalfie's win. Since most of his stars are only sophomores, Brooks may well smile for another two years, and perhaps earn revenge when Yale returns to Cambridge in 1971.