Aquamen Capture Advantage In Opening Day of Easterns

PHILADELPHIA--Senior Steve Schramm and freshman David Lundberg scored individual victories in the one-meter diving and 200-yd. individual medley, respectively, but it was Harvard's awesome depth which allowed the aquamen to roll up a 69-point lead over arch-rival Princeton in the opening day of the Eastern Championships here yesterday.

Incredibly, Harvard placed at least two men among the top six in each event contested, and exactly half of all the swimmers competing in the big finals (for places one through six) wore Crimson suits.

Princeton, on the other hand, won the medley relay (3:21:45 sec.) and had two individual winners, Andy Saltzman and Beaver O'Hara. The Tigers, however, could place their other scorers only in the consolation finals (places 7 through 12).

Schramm's springboard triumph capped a career progression which saw him place eighth as a freshman, fifth as a sophomore, and second last season in this meet.

He and freshman Jeff Mule (fourth) combined for 27 points in the event, while Princeton scored zero.

Breaststroker Lundberg had to scramble back from a second-and-a-half deficit at the half-way mark to take the IM. His South Weld roommate, Tom Verdin, finished second (1:52.10 to 1:52.54) and both qualified for the NCAAs at Harvard March 27-29.

"It's a nice to have teammates to back you up," Crimson superstar Bobby Hackett said after his disappointing fourth place finish in the 500-yd. freestyle. A viral infection bothered Hackett for the second Easterns in a row, but fellow distance-men Larry Countryman, Tim Maximoff and Ted Chappell took up the slack to the tune of second, fifth and sixth places, respectively.

Princeton's medley relay won the biggest showdown of the evening on the strength of butterflier Bill Specht's (47.7) and freestyler O'Hara's (43.7) phenomenal splits, but Harvard's strength had already secured an apparently insurmountable lead.

The three-day competition continues today at the University of Pennsylvania's Scheer Pool with several events, including the long-awaited rematch of last year's 800-yd. freestyle relay.

Harvard Point Scorers:

500-yd. Freestyle. 2nd, Countryman, 4:28.63; 4th, Hackett, 4:29.34; 5th, Maximoff, 4:31.55; 6th, Chappell, 4:32.71; 8th, Andy Lockman, 4:33.97. 200-yd. IM. 1st, Lundberg, 1:52.10; 2nd, Verdin, 1:52.54; 5th, Ron Raikula, 1:54.74; 7th, Mike Coglin, 1:54.51.

50-yd. freestyle. 3rd, Geoff Seelin, 21.33; 6th, Jack Gauthier, 21.47.

One-meter diving. 1st, Schramm, 471.55 points; 4th, Mule, 426.15.

400-yd. Medley Relay. 2nd, Harvard, 3:23.18 (Seelin, 51.8, Lundberg, 56.3, Gauthier, 49.4, Hackett, 45.4).

Team Scoring: Harvard, 168; Princeton, 99; Army, 62; Dartmouth, 44; Columbia, 42; Cornell, 34; Navy, 28; Yale, 26; LaSalle, 16; Fordham, Maine, 10.