Hal Ulen has a reputation as one of the finest swimming coaches in the country. This year's varsity is a perfect example of his skill. Without a single world record in the squad, the 1951 Crimson has the balance and the depth to beat every team on its schedule except Yale, which boasts as many record holders as any team in American history.

Whereas last year's Eli freshmen brought a satchelful of records with them to New Haven and established some more before a Blue coach had a chance to analyze their styles, the men who came to Ulen fitted pretty well into the class known as average.

Their improvement is not the result of strenuous make or break year-round exercise and practice, such as Bob Kiphuth employs at Yale. That system makes championship teams out of top-notch material, but it has also ruined many a potential champion.

Ulen is a little more conservative. He has to be. His squads are neither strong enough nor deep enough to undergo such a grind. Instead, he employs the patient and sympathetic approach of the fine teacher in any field.

This year's squad has beaten Pennsylvania, 65 to 10, and Army, 55 to 20, in its only meets this year. In the two meets, a total of 18 events, it has taken every first place but one.

Of the seven teams on the schedule, only Yale has shown the ability to beat either Harvard relay team--by about five seconds, as a matter of fact. Both the medley trio and the freestyle quartet should run right by Columbia, Springfield, Navy, Brown, Princeton, and Dartmouth before the annual denouement.

The freestyle division is especially strong. Dave Hedberg has taken over the springs with another sophomore, Ran Huebsch, right behind him in the 50 and Bob Stroud assisting in the 100. Captain Bob Berke has already beaten Army captain Jack Craigie in the 220, for the third straight year, and only national champion Wayne Moore of Yale seems capable of beating him.

The long one, the 440-yard grind, is not in such good shape. Doug Kinney is a steadily improving swimmer, and should win well over half of his races this year. But with Bob Tolf injured, Kinney has little support. He also swims the 220 behind Berke; he should be over a mile ahead of his nearest competitor in total yardage by the end of the year.

Lowell Sachnoff, Phil Pratt, and Dick Fouquet provide Ulen with a good bench.

John Steinhart may well be the best backstroker in the Eastern Intercollegiate League. So far, no other competitor has finished the 200 yards in less than 2:17; Steinhart did it in 2:16.2 against Army.

The 50-yard addition to the event has helped Steinhart immeasurably. At the 150-yard distance used through fast season, he was always gaining at the end, but never had enough to win. Hugh Hartwell has placed second to Steinhart in both 1951 meets.

Diving Excellent

Rene Vielman is extraordinarily small for a breaststroker. This handicap, coupled with pluck which enables him to finish up with a rush long after every spectator is sure he has burned himself out, has made him the favorite of his teammates. It would be absurd to expect him to reach the Yale meet undefeated, but neither Ulen nor Vielman's teammates would be surprised.

The most improved department this year is the dive. Pete Dillingham and Frank Manheim have been one-two so far. The sophomore who gave up football to concentrate on the springboard has received 119.73 and 112.9 points in his first varsity tries.

Unless these scores are the result of lavish judging, Dillingham has a good chance of winning the league championship. Still in the early stages of an extremely promising career, he is already consistently getting better scores than most divers expect for their best day in a full three years.

Turning to comparative scores, Harvard has beaten Army, 55 to 20. Dartmouth and Brown have just edged by Army. Brown has beaten Columbia, 43 to 32, and lost to Yale, 57 to 18. Princeton, however, beat Columbia, 59 to 16, thereby presenting itself as the chief challenger to Harvard for second place in the league. Navy, the other reputedly powerful squad, lost to Yale by only four points less than Brown, 53 to 22.

Everything would be rosy, if only they didn't have to swim Yale.