Swimmers Experiment At Yale-Hosted Tourney

The Harvard men's swimming team extended its winning streak by trampling Army Friday and dominating the Yale Invitational Saturday in a busy weekend of competition at New Haven, Conn.

Though Harvard was swimming its fourth meet of the week and a few members of Army's team shaved down, the Crimson came out strongly and jumped to an early 23-2 lead after three events.

"Army hates us and would love to beat us," Tri-Captain Peter Egan said. "But we blew them away early. If we hadn't it would have been a tougher meet."

Leading Harvard to an over-whelming triumph were dual winners John Pearson (1000 and 500 yard freestyle), John Ritch (100 and 200 yard freestyle) and Dan Watson (one-and three-meter diving).

The women, who had taken Friday off, joined the men in the first-ever Yale Invitational Saturday--competing against squads from Boston College, Boston University, Maryland, and Yale.

Since no team scores were kept, the meet was primarily an opportunity for individual swimmers to qualify for the Eastern Championships in both their usual events and those not featured in dual meets.

"The coach [Joe Bernal] seemed happy with our performance, even though we were a little tired coming in," Tri-Captain Tim Ford said. Two-thirds of the squad qualified for Easterns in at least one event.

"We've got a young team this year," Ford said, "and every meet the freshmen and sophomores are swimming better and better."

For the women, just coming off a big upset of arch-rival Brown last Tuesday, the meet was a chance to swim in a less pressured situation.

"The non-pressure aspect of the meet was good for us," Captain Annie Wilson said. "We don't have too many like this." While some of the women strove to make Eastern cuts, others used the opportunity to swim events other than their specialties.

The Crimson divers for both the men and women shone, winning all four of the diving events.

Watson, undefeated this season, ran away with both the one-and three-meter events. Freshmen standout Jennifer Greene nabbed the women's one-meter, and Shannon Byrd followed suit with a victory on the high board.

Both squads are looking forward to next weekend's dual meets against Syracuse at Blodgett Pool.