In the indoor meet -- held shortly after the college swimming season -- Schollander won only his favorite event, the 200 free. But outdoors after two months with Santa Clara he sped to three first place finishes.
Whether he makes as big a splash at Mexico City in 1968 as he did at Tokyo, Schollander has reaped fantastic benefits from his six or seven years in international competition.
During Christmas vacation, the 20-year-old North Carolina native toured Ireland, swimming in several exhibition meets. It was Schollander's sixth or seventh trip to Europe -- he's lost count.
Last summer Schollander took a trip to the Soviet Union for the first U.S.-Russian swim meet. He was struck both by the bleakness of Russian life and the swift improvement in Russian swimming.
"The weather was overcast most of the time we were there," he said, "and the gray weather sort of symbolized the whole country. The people don't seem aware that there are better things to be had."
Copycats
In swimming, the Russians have done what they have in many other sports -- copied American techniques to improve or start their own programs.
The Soviet government subsidizes the program. The swimmers have "no constraint on time or money -- they're just training," Schollander said. "We were lucky to get pretty good performances or they might have beaten us," he added.
And the Russians will be tough at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, he predicted, because their swim team is practicing now in the 10,000-foot high Ural Mts. Schollander himself will pass up a fourth trip to Japan this summer to get some practice at Mexico City's 2000-ft. altitude.
Serious Bill
As he relaxed with his second piece of cake, Schollander observed that former basketball All-American Bill Bradley was "too serious about everything." Schollander said he would not apply for a "Bradley-type Rhodes," because he wants to start work on the stock market as soon as he graduates from Yale.
Unfortunately for the other Ivy schools, Schollander's graduation will not mark the end of Yale's freshmen, called by many the best first year team in the nation, are undefeated and unmenaced. John Nelson, the star of the freshmen, was a silver-medalist freestyler at Tokyo.
Today's meet will be the last dual effort for Harvard's All-American breaststroker Bob Corris, captain Jim Seubold, sprinters Bob Padway and Andy Grinstead and marathon-man Dick Smith.