Seven Crimson swimmers left yesterday for Columbus, Ohio, with a fair chance to place high in several events in the NCAA swimming championships.

The competition begins tonight with finals in the 1500-meter freestyle, in which the Crimson has no entries. Friday and Saturday, finals will be run off in 13 events.

The national championships promise to be an exclusive Yale-Big Ten affair. The Crimson, second in the East in unofficial standings, is seeking individual titles rather than the team crown.

Ohio State won the team crown last year, with the Elis second, Michigan third, and Michigan State fourth. In 1951, Yale took first, Michigan State second, and Ohio State third. The Buckeyes' chances for a repetition of their victory have been reduced by the illness of ace freestyler Ford Konno, who won the 1500-meter, the 440, and was third in the 220 freestyle last year.

The Crimson entries are: diver Pete Dillingham; freestylers Charlie Egan, Dave Hedberg, and Al Rapperport; breaststrokers Ken Emerson and Ralph Zani; and backstroke ace Don Mulvey.

The 300-yard medley relay team, composed of Hedberg, Emerson, and Mulvey, stands fair to place high if it can repeat the showing it made in the Eastern championships. The trio turned in a time of 2:53 fiat, but finished second as Yale won in record-breaking time.

A good day could bring Dillingham a title in either the one or three-meter dives. Dilingham finished second in the East in both events.