Harvard's sensational 52-23 victory over the Tiger swimmers Saturday night, before a roaring capacity crowd, gave conclusive proof to the swimming world that the Crimson team stands among the first three in college competition.
Said Tiger Coach Howie Stepp after the meet, "Harvard has the greatest swimming team I've ever seen. It will win the league championship without trouble. The only consolation we have will be in laying for you next year."
Ample consolation for Stepp this year, though, was the unofficial time for Princeton's disqualified 300-yard medley relay team. 2:53.5 was the clocking, a world's record, invalid because Al Van de Weghe, Tiger backstroker, failed to touch the wall with his hand as he negotiated a somersault turn in the first leg. The Nassan mermen were rather bitter about the ruling, for Van de Weghe, is notorious for touching as much as two feet below the surface, a practice which makes it very difficult for the judge on turns to see what's going on.
Van de Wehe's pool, Princeton, and intercollegiate record of 1:34.5 in the 150 backstroke showed that he wasn't fooling. Pressed hard by Graham Cummin, the Tiger sophomore dug hard for six laps to finish about half a lap ahead of the field.
Greg Jameson '37 was in the audience that saw Dick Hough break by one-tenth of a second the 2:25.4 pool record he set up against Yale last year. Dario Berizzi made a gallant losing fight of it, butterflying the entire 200-yards in an iron-man attempt to keep up with Hough's flashy pace.
Aside from Van de Weghe and Hough, the rest of the meet was all Harvard generally, and all Willy Kendall specifically. Kendall, after capturing the 220, pulled his way to a magnificent 4:50.5 quarter that sliced nine seconds from Charlie Hutter's last year's Harvard record. Captain Hutter, with two sprint wins to his credit, performed ably as usual, while Rusty Greenhood's 116., 57 point victory in the dive was a tribute to his ability to come through under competition.
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