Aquawomen Float to Eastern Swimming Crown

The chant was echoing throughout Blodgett Pool : "Harvard...Harvard...Eastern Champs...Eastern Champs."

Saturday's final session of the three-day Eastern Championships had not yet begun, but the Harvard women's swimming knew it had its first title. That morning during the trials, the squad had placed all but one swimmer in either the finals or consolation heats. A big victory was inevitable.

And after the waves had settled in the evening, the Crimson had its championship with a total of 726 points. Penn State finished second overall with a score of 570 and Brown, last year's winner, fell to third with 474.

Harvard Coach Maura Costin Scalise, who in just four years took an eighth-place Eastern squad and built it into a powerhouse, was pleased with the meet's results.

"Winning the championship wasn't as exciting as watching the winning of it," Costin Scalise said. "Individually, [the swimmers] all worked hard and it was a thrill to see them all swim their best."

On the final day of competition, no record was safe, as new Eastern marks were set in all six races.

In the night's opening competition, the 1650-yard freestyle, defending champion Aimee Montague of Brown retained her title, as her time of 16:45.93 shattered her old Eastern record by tour seconds. This was the only event of the meet in which no Harvard swimmer was entered.

In the 200 backstroke, the title and Eastern record went to Gretchen Ebner of B.U. with her time of 2:03.00. Harvard's Sheila Findley posted a record time in trials, but could not repeat her performance in the finals and finished fourth. Nonetheless, her morning time of 2:03.02 qualified her for the NCAA Championships as well as the Olympic trials.

In two events, the 100 freestyle and the 200 breaststroke, Harvard posted four swimmers in the championship heat showing the outstanding depth of this year's squad.

In the 100 freestyle, Yale's Lisa O'Dell, who was the top morning qualifier with an Eastern record time of 50.26, repeated that time to grab the victory. O'Dell was later selected as the Outstanding Swimmer of the Eastern Championships.

The 200 breaststroke renewed the rivalry between Harvard's Mia Costello and Brown's Carolyn Ryder. Costello moved out to a large early lead, but a last-lap charge by Ryder brought the crowd to its feet. Costello hung on for the victory with a record time of 2:18.90, .60 of a second ahead of Ryder and two seconds below the NCAA and Olympic trial cut.

In 200 butterfly, highest honors went to Penn State's Kristen Elias. Her time of 2:01.93 put her in the Eastern record book, eclipsing the old mark of 2:02.18. Harvard's Jenny Meyer pulled out a fifth-place finish of 2:04.68, good for a Harvard record although only .18 of a second ahead of teammate Nicole Engh's sixth-place time.

"Nicole and I are so even that it's scary,"Meyer said.

In the three-meter diving competition, thetwo-time defending champion Jenny Greene ofHarvard was clearly the favorite, but a reversetwo-and-one-half ended all hope of a third title.

"I was a little bit more nervous than I usuallyam. I felt confident but not steady," Greene said."My knees buckled when I hit the board, but I hadto go through with the dive. So I sorta landed onmy back and got ones [for her score]."

But Greene, showing her tremendous divingability, made a strong comeback after the flop.Not only did she place third in the event, but hercombined point total on both boards gave her theOutstanding Diver of the Meet award for the thirdconsecutive year.

In the meet's final event, the 400 freestylerelay, Harvard's team raced away from the field,just as it had done in the team standings. Thefoursome of Linda Suhs, Jill Hutchinson, AnneHardy and Janice Sweetser produced a time of3:25.11, which set a new school and Eastern recordwhile qualifying them for the NCAAs.

"We won it on our depth," senior Molly Clarksaid, "placing people into consols and finals.