Hurt Freshman Improves; Taken Off Critical List

Margaret A. Cimino '87 has "significantly improved," and she is no longer in critical condition from injuries incurred after Saturday's football game at Yale, a hospital spokesman said yesterday.

The freshman swimmer has been taken off a respirator, and now can talk. Doctors have found most of her vital signs normal, and have placed her on the "serious" list, Kelly Anthony, spokesman of the Yale-affiliated St. Raphael's Hospital, said yesterday.

Anthony said Cimino would stay in the New Haven hospital for a while, but refused to speculate for how long, and whether there would be any lasting effect.

But Cimino's parents apparently told the swim team coach that their daughter had an 80 percent chance of pulling through with no serious damage. Swimmer Tracy Black '86 said that Coach Vicki Hays told the team Sunday that Cimino would reportedly be in intensive care for 10 to 12 days.

Following Harvard's victory over Yale in New Haven, Cimino joined a crowd swarming the field. She was struck by a torn-down goalpost and suffered traumatic, massive head injuries. Doctors deemed her situation critical, placed her on a respirator and fed her intravenously.

The incident has attracted national attention, and Anthony said the hospital on Sunday received about 100 calls an hour from well-wishers and concerned friends. Each day for the next few weeks, a different teammate will send her flowers or a card, Black said.

The event also triggered scrutiny of the security procedures which allowed it to take place, and whether the provisions should be revised. Yale officials have said they will compile a report this week, and the school will reassess its game-time stadium security. Dean of the College John B. Fox Jr. '59, said he will push Ivy League administrators to examine the issue.

Officials remain unclear, however, whether anything more could be done.

Yale spokesman Walter Little said Sunday that the security force was adequate to meet the need. "It is terribly difficult to control the crowd and keeping it from pulling down the goal without creating more of a furor," he added.

Cimino, a North Tarry town, N.Y. native, lives in Thaver South.