PRINCETON, N.J., March 9--Harvard's Bob Kaufmann left no doubt that he is the East's best 200-yard individual medley swimmer here tonight, as he won his second straight EISL title and set a meet record of 2:03.8.

Kaufmann's time bettered his own meet mark of 2:06.2 set last year, and was within 0.6 seconds of Lance Larson's American record. It established a new pool standard and was of course a Harvard record.

The Crimson ace took the lead at the start of the race, and increased it steadily. He won by a huge margin over Yale's Dave Burgess. Kaufmann split 25.5 for the butterfly, 30.9 for the backstroke, 39.2 for the breastsroke, and 28.2 for the free-style.

Advanced placement sophomore John Pringle was fourth in the medley, with a time of 2:07.9. In a repeat of the medley in this winter's Navy meet, Pringle lost out by the narrowest of margins to Middle Don Griffin. In trials this afternoon, Pringle qualified at 2:06.9, his best effort to date.

Mulligan Sets Record

George Mulligan accounted for a second University record as he finished fourth in the 1500-meter frestyle this afternoon. Mulligan turned in an 13:53.5 to break the old Harvard mark of 19:25.6 established by Forbes Norris in 1949.

Yale's Bill Chase swam 18:02.1, a Princeton pool record, and took first by 38 seconds over Navy's Gay Hopkins. Bill Slater of Penn was third.

Lewy Thirteenth in Dive

In the one-meter diving the Crimson did not fare so well. Clark Peters was eliminated in the first round, and Jeff Lewy was a disappointing thirteenth in the semi-finals. Eight divers qualified for tomorrow night's finals.

The leader in the dive was Bob Long of the University of Connecticut. Bill Teetle of Navy was second.

Tomorrow, the championships in the one-meter dive, 200-yard butterfly, 50-yard freestyle, 200-yard backstroke, 220-yard freestyle, 200-yard breaststroke, and 400-yard freestyle relay will be decided. Of particular interest will be Crimson sprinter Bruce Hunter's attempt to take the 50 crown away from Charlie Brown of Dartmouth, last year's upset winner.