Aquawomen Surgically Remove Cornell

Like a surgeon, the Harvard women's swimming team went to work on an ailing Cornell squad Saturday in Ithaca, N.Y.

And swiftly and methodically, the Crimson disposed of any Big Red upset thoughts by handing the home team a punishing defeat, 85-55, in front of 200 at Cornell's Teagle Hall.

With the victory, Harvard (9-1 overall, 6-0 Ivy League) clinched at least a tie for the Ivy crown, which it can win outright next Saturday at 1 p.m. when the team hosts Pennsylvania at Blodgett Pool.

Despite the tremendous win, Harvard Coach Maura Costin already has her sights set on the Penn meet and her squad's chance to capture its first-ever Ancient Eight championship.

"Unlike Cornell, Pennsylvania has several strong, front-line swimmers who could pose a challenge to us," Costin said. "However, I don't feel that this team, as united as it is, will allow a team like Penn to beat them."

Just like last week, when the Crimson drowned Princeton, 87-53, the aquawomen captured a full 12 out of 16 events and never allowed the Big Red or its fans to get involved in the meet.

Leading the team to victory Saturday was freshman standout Janice Sweetser, who won the 100-, 200-, and 500-yd. freestyle events, while swimming the last leg for the victorious 400 freestyle relay team.

Also posting wins for Harvard were Allison Greis, Karen Schneider and Linda Suhs, each of whom shattered records in the process. Greis broke two Cornell pool marks in the breaststroke events, posting times of 1:07.82 in the 100 and 2:26.83 in the 200 breaststroke, to win both races.

Schneider broke the previous pool best in the 200 butterfly, setting a new record with her victorious time of 2:08.55. Suhs swam to triumph in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:00.21, breaking the previous Harvard school record in that event.

Diving Duo

The Crimson diving duo of Jennifer Greene and Shannon Byrd also contributed to the victory cause with strong performances on both the 1-and 3-meter boards. The Greene-Byrd combo finished one-three in the 1-meter event and one-two on the 3-meter board, with Greene pulling off the top score in each competition.

Finishing off the Harvard victory parade was Lani Nelson, whose time of 59.18 in the 100 butterfly was good for first place.

The meet had originally been scheduled to take place at Blodgett Pool, but was switched to the Ithaca site one month ago in an effort to ease a diffucult road schedule for next year, which had Harvard travelling to Brown, Pennsylvania, and Princeton, in addition to Cornell.

Now only Penn stands between the Crimson and a perfect 7-0 record in Ivy competition--and the championship rings that have forever eluded them.

With the Quakers undoubtedly looking for an upset victory, Harvard could be in for a tough battle.

On the other hand, with so much incentive for the Crimson to win, Pennsylvania might find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time on Saturday afternoon.

Namely, Blodgett Pool.