Aquawomen Sink Boston University

Coming off of an impressive weekend victory over nationally-ranked Virginia, the Harvard women's swim team cruised to an easy victory against Boston University last night at Blodgett Pool.

The Crimson (4-1) left the Terriers in its wake, winning 13 out of 16 events for a final score of 175-114.

"It was great meet preparation in the sense that we let people swim in off events," Harvard coach Maura Costin Scalise said.

Although most of the swimmers competed in events that were not their usual forte, the Crimson never allowed the Terriers a chance to get into the meet.

"It was challenging because we're swimming off events," said senior co-captain Laura Koerckel, who took first place in the 1,000-meter freestyle event. "It was important to stay focused and race. You have to take everybody seriously. You know that they're working as hard as you are."

Junior Katie Liu led the Crimson with victories in the 100m backstroke and the 500m freestyle. Senior co-captain Sarah Durkin, sophomores Keiko Iwahara and Jennifer Steffen and freshman Christen Deveney each came away with two victories--an individual win, along with a victory in the 200m Medley Relay.

The pool was not the only place where the Crimson swimmers stood out. On deck, the swimmers constantly cheered on their teammates, unifying the team and creating a positive atmosphere.

"It was a lot of fun," Deveney said. "We went out and swam, but we also had a great time."

In the final event of the evening, the 200m freestyle relay, junior diver Kara Miller, who took first place in the one-meter event and second in the three-meter made her swimming debut, racing in the final leg of the relay. The team of Miller, Deveney, Koerckel and sophomore Stephanie Lawrence took second in the event.

For the Crimson, last weekend's victory over Virginia bolstered a sense of confidence and excitement in the team.

Since this year's squad is smaller in size than last year, each swimmer's role is that much more important.

"We were really psyched that we beat Virginia," Deveney said. "We all came together. The victory over Virginia fostered a lot of team confidence knowing that we can rely on each other."

The Crimson's primary goal for the season is to win its second consecutive Ivy League title. In its first meet of the season on November 17, the Crimson convincingly defeated the Lions of Columbia, 142-82. Two days after that, Harvard overcame Brown--who is one of the strongest teams in the league--by a 160-140 score.

Friday, the Crimson will continue its Ivy League competition in its final meet of 1995 against Dartmouth.

"We're going to focus on trying to beat them and to have some consistent swimming," Deveney said. B.U.  114 Harvard  175