Aquamen Abdicate at Easterns

WEST POINT. N.Y.--The Harvard men's swimming team failed in its bid to capture a record ninth straight Eastern Seaboard championship this weekend here at the United States Military Academy.

But at least the Crimson went down fighting.

Although Princeton had wrapped up its first title since 1978 before the last day of competition, the Tigers also had accomplished something better; going into Saturday night's races, no Crimson swimmer had placed first in any event.

And going into the final event of the meet--the 400-yd. Freestyle relay--Harvard was still without a winner.

But in the final relay the Crimson son's persistence paid off. Senior Jim Kornish was able to touch just ahead of Princeton's Richard Hughes to give the Harvard team of Keith Kaplan, Dave Berkoff, Chris Smith and Kornish a gold medal and the entire squad a renewed sense of determination.

Harvard's time of 2:59.80 put the quarter. 09 ahead of Princeton in the race, but it was also good for new school, meet and pool records, as well as a trip to Austin, Tex., where the four will compete in next month's NCAA championships.

"That last relay helped us regain some of our fighting spirit," Harvard Coach Joe Bernal said. "It also showed the other teams that we'll be back next year and hungry to win."

But Saturday night was a Tiger celebration. After storming out to a 98-point lead on the championship's first day, Princeton never looked back.

The Tigers ended up with 651 points overall, while the Crimson finished in second with 435.5. Penn State was further back in third (297) and host Army snagged fourth (281), one point ahead of Pittsburgh (280).

"I am really proud of our swimmers this weekend, Princeton Coach Rob Orr said. "Harvard will always be tough, but in this meet we were able to put it together."

Orr especially noted the performances of his senior crew. Three of the seniors, Co-Captain Richard Hughes, Jim Tuchler and Dan Veatch, tolalled 169 points in individual competition as well as contributing in relays.

By grabbing firsts in the 500 and 1650 freestyles, plus a second in the 200 free, Veatch scored 57 points and earned the Phil Moriarity Award for high point-scorer. He also was presented the Hal Ulen Award for most cumulative points by a senior in a four-year span.

Besides the winning relay, two Harvard swimmers snagged secondplace finishes on Saturday. Berkoff set a school record in the trials of the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:49.10, but in the finals fell to Hughes by .05 seconds (1:49.04 to 1:49.09). It marked the second backstroke race in two days that Berkoff lost to Hughes by .05 or less.

Kaplan broke a five-year-old record in the 100 freestyle trials with a time of 44.93 seconds. While his time in finals was slightly higher (45.11), it still earned Kaplan second in the race to Bucknell's Jim Harvey.

Other finalists for the Crimson Saturday were Jeff Peltier and Co-Captains Dan Simkowitz and Lars Reierson, who finished third, fourth and ninth respectively in the 200 backstroke. Junior Bill Bird claimed fifth in the 200 butterfly and George Imredy was 10th.

John Pearson and Ken Johnson grabbed fourth and seventh in the 1650 freestyle, while three aquamen placed in the consolation finals of the 100 freestyle: Kornish (11th), Smith (13th) and Kresimir Peharda (14th) Stuart Hirsch's lifetime best of 2:04.75 in the 200 breaststroke was good enough for 10th place.

While Bernal and his team are disappointed with the outcome of the meet, they are already preparing to win back the crown next year. "If Harvard swimming was through," Bernal said, "I'd pack up and move in an instant. A loss like this hurts, but it makes the comeback all the more challenging."