Swimming Team Routs Cornell, 78-35

The Harvard swimming team rebounded strongly from last week's loss at Princeton to score its highest point total of the season Saturday as it sprinted to a commanding 23-2 lead and coasted the rest of the afternoon for a 78-35 win over Cornell at the IAB.

The victory, the Crimson's sixth against one loss, kept Harvard in solid contention for the league title along with the Tigers and a surprisingly strong Yale team. The Elis retained sole possession of first place in the Eastern Swimming League and remained undefeated with a 61-52 upset over Dartmouth. The Big Green are now virtually eliminated from the race with two losses.

The Big Red, which had figured to provide the Crimson with at least a modicum of competition, did not pan out as such all afternoon as Harvard easily dominated the swimming events, winning 10 of 11 races. Cornell's particularly poor showing might have been due, at least in part, to a 6:30 a.m. bus ride from Ithaca, but it was outclassed in any case.

Harvard began with a win in the medley relay and before Cornell woke up the Crimson had built a huge 36-7 margin going into the 1-meter dive. Hess Yntema and Rich Baughman took 1-2 in a leisurely 1000, captain Fred Mitchell came back from a free leg on the medley to win the 200-yd. free, a la Charlie Campbell, and Tim Neville set a new Harvard pool record in the 50-yd. free with a 21.5 clocking to highlight the Crimson's early surge.

Diving against Cornell's Larry Moore, second in the nation last season in the 1-meter competition, freshman Dave English managed a strong second. English could be a key performer in the March 3 showdown with Yale for the league title.

Yntema came back following the diving break to take his specialty, the 200-yd. butterfly, recoring a good time of 1:55.6 in his first real test in the event this season. Neville surprised Cornell's Chip Harrison, a consistent 47+ swimmer, in the 100-yd. free and won in a slow 48.4.

With the meet out of Cornell's reach, head coach Don Gambril began juggling his lineup in an effort to provide the bored crowd with some close races, but to no avail. Dave Brumwell moved to the 200-yd. back and won easily, Mike Cook swam a good 500-yd. free but lost, while Phil Jonkheer and Dave Smith scored an easy 1-2 sweep in the 200-yd. breaststroke. English took another second in the 3-meter dive, and Harvard won easily in the free relay.