Tiger Troops Here for Weekend Wars

There's been a lot of enthusiastic talk lately about Beanpots and squash national championships, but for sheer excitement and historical significance these will almost assuredly take back seats to the events taking place at the new pool complex this afternoon.

Thanks to the tardy Turner Construction Company, the new pool will officially be dedicated today at 3:30 as a prelim to what has got to be the top swimming meet on the East Coast this year, the showdown between Harvard and Princeton.

It is only fitting that such a meet should officially christen Harvard's new aquatic temple. The days of bowling crowds and the blackboard-like scoreboard of the IAB are over. The meet has been sold out for two days, and not just to excited architecture students who want to see the inside of the building, but for the spectators who know a classic matchup when they see one.

Princeton is 5-0. Harvard is 4-0. Princeton will have some of their swimmers shave down (that is, shave all their body hair in order to get faster times) for the meet. Razors are out for Harvard. Princeton has won the Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League championship meet the last five years in a row. Harvard hasn't.

Harvard has a new coach, a young team, a sparkling facility. Tha Crimson have everything to gain by knocking the Tigers off their throne. Steve Berizzi, assistant coach of the Harvard Men's team, said "This meet is key. It is a measuring stick of our new program."

Princeton boasts a veteran coach (Bill Farley), mucho lettermen, and a bushel of past clutch victories. On ice it may be different, but in chlorinated water Princeton has ruled the Ivies for half a decade. They know when the big meets are, they're always in them.

"You've got to rate it as a toss up now," Berizzi said. "Sure our times were better than theirs early in the season; we had a lot more to prove than them. We all knew their times would come down eventually, and they did when they swam well in January."

And swim well they did. The Tigers put on a performance in January that saw all their times take halfgainers, and it's reached the point now where not only do both squads have individuals nationally ranked in several events, but a look at the top times in the East this year shows a Harvard or Princeton swimmer atop every event.

Princeton's amazing depth gives it advantages in butterfly, breast stroke, individual medley, and middle distance freestyle events. Harvard holds the edge in the sprints, the diving, backstroke, and any event that freshman Bobby Hackett swims in.

Ah yes, Hackett. There's no denying that he is the key performer in the meet. Harvard's simple, but unspecific strategy will be to swim the super-versatile Hackett in Princeton's strong events (especially the 200 free and the I.M.) in hope of neutralizing the Tigers' power in the head to head encounters.

If Hackett swims in it, the individual medley should be especially interesting, as the freshman's best time this season in that event has been 1:59.6. Princeton's Bruce Coan has done it in 1:59.537. Oooooooooh.

As for the distance freestyle events, no one is near the Yonkers flash. His 1000-yd, freestyle NCAA record time of 9:02.05 is 12 seconds better than anyone in the nation, 33 seconds better than anyone in the East (Harvard's Michael Coglin is second at 9:35.57), and 41 ticks better than Princeton's best man. Hackett's 4:27.75 mark for the 500 free is second in the nation and miles ahead of anyone in the East.

But Hackett can't swim every event (though he probably would if he could), so that leaves the rest of the meet to a host of talented aquamen from both schools.

The key non-Hackett events will most likely be the 200 breast, the 50 free, and the diving. The breaststroke race features the two top times in the East this year, and both are freshmen. Princeton's John Christensen (2:08.91) will face off against Tuomo Kerola (2:10.38), but don't be surprised if last year's Eastern Seaboard champ, Princeton's Chuck Hector, comes through with some kind of upset.

The 50 free features a dogfight between Crimson stud Malcolm Cooper, whose best mark of 21.30 is nationally ranked, and Princeton's Alan Fine, not too far behind at 21.501. The question here is who's going to grab the third place points.

The place where an upset could hurt the most would be in the diving competition. Harvard has a decided edge here, with four consistently strong springboard specialists in Mike Toal, Steve Schramm, Jamie Greacen, and Craig Gavin. It would be unwise to think of anything less than a sweep for Harvard on both the one and three-meter boards, unless Tiger Paul Malot, who Berizzi calls "the unknown quantity," puts in an adrenaline-fueled performance to place in either event.

In case you've been adding up the points to see who's going to win, don't waste your calculator batteries. This meet will almost certainly come down to the last relay, where both squads have nationally-ranked 400-yd, freestyle foursomes.

The times here best exemplify the pre-meet closeness of the two squads. Harvard's best is 3:07.51, and Princeton has done it in 3:08.1.

New head coach Joe Bernal puts the whole thing into perspective though. "They've been the champs five years in a row," he said, "and they just won't fold overnight. They sense it's gonna be a shootout today."

And you thought that only happened in westerns.