Elis Dunk Crimson Swimmers, 78-35

The roof fell in on the Harvard swimming team last Saturday afternoon in New Haven, as a fired-up Yale squad completely demolished the Crimson en route to an embarassingly easy 78-35 win before a delighted partisan crowd at the Eli's cavernous Payne Whitney pool.

The loss in Harvard's final meet of the year dropped the Crimson's record to 6-3 and was the most lopsided and disappointing setback for coach Don Gambril and his squad. Yale's dominance in the meet was clear-cut all afternoon as it took firsts in 10 of 13 events, and 1-2 sweeps in five of those races. The mounting score left the Crimson with little to cheer about.

Yale coach Phil Moriarty, as well-known a personality in New Haven as Kingman Brewster and William Sloane Coffin, has suffered through his worst dual meet season in years, losing three times--one of these times at home. The thought of an added loss to arch-rival Harvard, especially before a crowd composed largely of Friends of Yale swimming, was more than he could take in one season. This attitude was in evidence all afternoon, as Yale took the medley relay to open the meet and kept on winning throughout the afternoon.

Harvard, which on paper figured to win only the 200-yd., 500-yd. and 1000-yd. freestyles, took its only firsts in those events. After an easy Yale win in the medley relay, Rich Baughman, pacing himself beautifully and looking very strong, won the 1000-yd. free with a new Harvard school record time of 9:46.9, breaking his old mark by over two seconds. In the process, Baughman established a new Yale pool mark, breaking the old standard of 9:49.8 set by Yale's John Nelson in 1969.

In the 200-yd. free, the next event, Harvard's Fred Mitchell, a consistent performer all season long, came from behind in the final 50 yards to nip Yale captain Bob Kasting. The victory narrowed the Bulldog's lead to 15-10, the smallest of the day. But following Harvard's back-to-back wins, Yale began to pour it on.

With the score Yale 32-Harvard 20, any hopes of a Crimson comeback were shattered by three straight Yale sweeps. Suddenly the meet was a full fledged route.

There were, however, bright spots for Harvard. Roy Geronemous and Phil Jonckheer, who shaved down for their best efforts of the season, responded with good times and both qualified for the Easterns this week. Geronemous swam a 2:03.1 butterfly, and Jonckheer's time of 2:18.3 was the best by a Crimson breaststroker this year.

Harvard, with the outcome already decided, took its final first of the meet in the 500-yd. free, where Rich Baughman and Fred Mitchell both easily outdistanced their Yale opponents. Baughman, who was the Crimson's top performer Saturday, swam his best time of the season, 4:47.9, to qualify for the NCAA's in that event along with Mitchell.

In the final event of the afternoon, the Harvard freestyle relay team of Fred Mitchell, Paul Horvitz, Tim Neville and Steve Baird swam its best time of the season--a fast 3:13.7. But once again Yale was just too much for the Crimson and won the race easily.

"We swam about as well as we could, but they swam their best meet of the season," Gambril said Saturday. "I hate to lose, but when you are outmanned there isn't too much you can do," he added.

Besides losing the meet the team also lost some valuable hours of sleep as a result of a ridiculously early 8 a.m. Cambridge departure. The effect on the swimmers, although unmeasurable, was noticeable all afternoon long. The loss was a disappointing one, but, with a few exceptions, the team swam its best times of the season. Moriarty's polite handshake with Gambril after the meet may indicate something about the future, for it may not be too long before Moriarty will be watching Gambril establish the same kind of swimming powerhouse which had made him the czar of Eastern swimming.