Six pool records fell Saturday at the IAB as a Crimson bid to steal sole possession of the Ivy swimming crown was snuffed by the perenially potent Bulldogs. But despite the disappoining 43-52 defeat, no Harvard rooter could disparage the team's effort.

Every event featured either a new record or an exhibition by the same swimmer who held the old one. And the Crimson had a chance to walk off with a victory as late as the 200 yard butterfly.

Crimson coach Bill Brooks threw everything he had into the opening relay in the dim hope of an upset victory over a Yale medley team that had already swum more than a second faster than the Harvard pool record.

The strategy of using Alan Engleberg, normally a freestyle sprinter, in his old specialty for the fly lap of the relay paid off, as the team of Bob Kaufmann, Engleberg, Bill Schellstede, and Bruce Hunter turned in a blistering time of 3:43.9 to beat the Bulldogs by more than two seconds and set new Harvard and pool records in the event. The old time, set last year by Kaufmann, McCartney, Elizalde, and Hunter was 3:47.3, nearly four seconds slower than the new mark.

The big disappointment for the Crimson came in the diving. Though the event was rated as a tossup before the meet, hopes for a Harvard victory depended heavily on the ability of Jeff Lewy and Clark Peters to take first and third. But Lewy got off to a weak start, and despite a dive that won him a 7, a 71/2, and an almost unheard of 81/2 from the judges, Yale Gordon Smith edged him out by three points for a winning total of 75.82. Peters lost third place by a point, and the meet was almost over for the Crimson.

Upset in Butterfly

The biggest surprise of the day came in the 200 yard butterfly, where Bulldog captain George Bissell was expected to lead teammate Dave Karetsky and Harvard's John Pringle by about four seconds to set a pool record. After 150 yards, however, Karetsky and Pringle were neck and neck, several yards ahead of the highly touted Yale captain.

But the record pace was too much for Pringle, who had been told he should be able to touch out Karetsky for second and was killing himself to stay even. In the last lap Pringle tired noticeably, and first Karetsky, then Bissell and Crimson junior Jim Coffman passed him for a Yale sweep and new pool and Yale records. Karetsky's time, 2:04.2, was four seconds better than he had ever swum before, and surpassed former Yale great Tim Jecko's mark by more than a second.

Although not as unexpected, Bob Kaufmann's record performance in the 200 yard backstroke was actually even more remarkable, since the backstroke is normally slower than butterfly. The Crimson ace proved once again that he is one of the finest backstrokers in the country, as he covered the 200 yards in 2:04.5, leaving Bulldogs Allan Cunningham and Bob Boni well in his wake--despite the fact that both the second and third place times bettered the Yale record of 2:07.1.

In the 100 Hunter tied the pool record of 49.0, although he was four tenths of a second off his National Intercollegiate mark. Bill Zentgraf was touched out for second by his old rival Jim Guthrie in 49.6.

Hunter had been suffering from the flu all week, and went to the doctor Friday before practice. After the meet he collapsed in the locker room, but not until he had anchored both winning relays for the Crimson and taken first place in the hundred. Even with an upset stomach the Olympic veteran walked off with two pool records and three first place laurels against Yale--quite a trick, even for Hunter.

Yale's middle distance star, Bill Chase, shattered his own pool record in the 220 with a time of 2:05.0. As expected, the Bulldogs swept both the 220 and the 440, though Chase's 440 time of 4:31.8 was nearly four seconds off the mark he set in last year's Easterns and was one of three events in which no records were broken.

Record Falls in Medley

To the dismay of the crowd, the individual medley duel between Kaufmann and Bulldog Dave Burgess--potentially the most exciting race of the day--didn't come off, as Kaufmann was needed for both relays and the backstroke.

The final record of the day came in the 200 yard breaststroke, where Crimson captain Bill Schellestede edged out Gyorffy to set a new Harvard mark of 2:23.5. Pringle, exhausted after the butterfly, struggled to a third place finish.

The great Harvard freestyle relay team of Engleberg, Zentgraf, Kaufmann, and Hunter easily outdistanced their Yale rivals in 3:18.3, though they failed to lower their Pool record of 3:17.7. But it didn't matter; the meet was already over. Yale had won again, 52-43