Ivies to Battle For Polo Title In Blodgett

Just three weeks after hosting the NCAA swimming championships, Blodgett Pool will be the site for this weekend's third annual Ivy League Water Polo Championships.

The Crimson team, officially a club, but currently applying for varsity status, brings a 5-2 spring record and a number four New England ranking in the fall standings to the tourney.

Brown, undefeated this year, looms as the favorite; and, by consensus, the Bruins deserve their top seeding. Harvard is seeded fourth, but co-captain John Hansen vowed yesterday, "We're going to do better than that."

Shave

"We're so psyched that some of the kids are even shaving down," Hansen added, a reference to swimmers somewhat bizarre practice of shaving their entire bodies to cut resistance while in the water.

Festivities begin tomorrow at 5 p.m. with a team of Harvard women going against Brown in the first match in the three-way women's side of the event, which also includes Princeton.

The men's division--all the Ivies except Dartmouth--start play at 6 p.m., with the Crimson facing sixth-seeded Cornell at 8 p.m.

Blodgett will rock with the bone-crunching beat of the sport all day Saturday, and the championship will be decided Sunday at 12:45 p.m.