Swim Teams Deny Dartmouth

In Ivy League swimming, the competition is really between Harvard and Princeton for first place, and everyone else for third through eight.

And after the Crimson men's and women's teams beat Dartmouth Saturday in Hanover, N.H., team members were talking more about the upcoming home meet against the Tigers than the easy victory over the Big Green.

"It helped to give a boost to morale," Men's Co-Captain Mike Anderson said of the Crimson's 66-45 victory. But, the senior said, "It won't make or break our meet against Princeton."

The men's team started off the meet well, taking first place in the opening three events. Senior Co-Captain Ken Johnson followed a Crimson win in the medley relay with a victory in the 1000 freestyle, and Kevin Williams captured the 200 free.

After succumbing to the Big Green in the next three events--the 50 free, 200 individual medley and diving competitions--the Crimson won five of the six remaining events. The Big Green's only other victory in the dual meet came in the 200 breaststroke.

"They're a better team than they've been in the past, so we had to take the meet a little more seriously than we have in the past, but it was a comfortable win," Watson said.

Sophomore Don Kidd began the Harvard onslaught with a victory in the 200 butterfly, followed by Greg Tull's win in the 100 freestyle and Tom Peterson's first place finish in the 200 backstroke.

Jill Hutchinson, a freestylist on the women's team, also referred to the women's 101-39 trouncing of Dartmouth in terms of the February 3 event at Blodgett Pool.

"This is our last real meet before Princeton," Hutchinson said. "We were happy with our times."

With many team members not swimming their strongest events and with eight others back at Harvard because of too much schoolwork, the Crimson still were able to win all but one event against the Big Green.

The Crimson continued their success in freestyle, highlighted by Hutchinson's win in the 50, freshman Dierdre Ryan's victory in the 100, and Jenny Moyer's first place honors in the 200. In addition, Ann Koerckel narrowly edged out the field in the 500. Harvard also swept the events in the butterfly and backstroke.

While the Crimson were without the services of All-American breaststroker Mia Costello, Harvard's one loss on the day, in the 100 breaststroke, highlights the team's weakness in that stroke. While such a weakness did not make a difference for the NCAA 18th-ranked Crimson team Saturday, it could against Princeton.