Aquamen Aiming at Eastern Supremacy

At that meet, Hackett copped the title of third in the world in the 1500-meter free, by sailing home in 15:22, and then chipped in with the second fastest 200-meter split in the world (1:49) as part of the American 800-meter free relay.

The real strength of this year's team, however, lies in the fact that Hackett is not the only star in the Crimson galaxy. As the men in the maroon speedos demonstrated last week in trouncing a surprisingly strong Columbia team, 76-37, they have the kind of depth that makes you wonder if Bernal hasn't been taking a few lessons from his rival in Tigertown, Bill Farley.

The Crimson brigade of distance swimmers is a potentially devastating collection of talent. First there's Hackett and his sidekick Mike Coglin. One time British national team member Coglin, last year's Eastern champ in the 400-yd. individual medley, commenced his second season for Harvard by winning two of his other specialties, the 500-yd. and 1000-yd. freestyles, in impressive fashion last Saturday. Add to this duo three-time high school All-American freshman Tim Maximoff, fellow Californian Phil Atkinson, and local hero Jack Gauthier (see freshman profiles), and you can understand why opponents will be seeing red when they think of what the championship finals in the 200, 500, and 1650-yd. freestyles will look like at Easterns this year.

Bernal's technique of stocking up in certain strategic events, which he readily admits was "premeditated," evokes memories of the Princeton strategy of years past which often resulted in up to five qualifiers swimming in the same event at championship meets.

If the Crimson have the Big Dipper in distance, it has the moon in sprint man Malcolm Cooper. All-American last year, Cooper has begun the season with the kind of fabulous start that characterizes his races--a blazing pool record 21.10 in Saturday's 50-yd. free. Freshman Ron Raikula, who, like Maximoff, capped a brilliant high school All-American career by making the finals at AAU nationals this year, matched Cooper's record with one of his own in the 200-yd. backstroke (1:53.77). Sophomore backstroke Geoff Seelen, and top-notch divers Steve Schramm and Jamie Greacen further highlight this seemingly endless list of talent. Only the loss of a pair of would-be sophomore standouts, giant All-American sprinter Julian Mack and Finnish breastroker Tuomo Kerola (who has returned to Finland to pursue a career in medicine) subtracts from the healthier-than-ever state of the Crimson aquatic program.

Rumor has it that the season that continues with a key meet at Navy today will include an engagement with western powerhouse Stanford at Blodgett in early January. The scheduling of such an attractive meet graphically illustrates the arrival of Harvard as a national swimming powerhouse. Much of the credit must go to the fine recruiting job done by Bernal, who modestly admits, "Some people say that recruiting is my forte."

Multiple Bonus

His trick is to convince high-schoolers that Harvard swimming is for real. While it was a heartbreaker to fall short at Easterns last year, Bernal claims that "we could have won Easterns if we had really wanted, but maybe it paid off to wait for nationals. By beating out schools like Stanford and Princeton there, we proved that we won't leave our swimming at the bloodbath of the Eastern Championships, and we were able to get some of the top national swimmers to come to Harvard."