Without undue effort, the varsity swimming team routinely demolished Columbia, 69-31, Saturday afternoon in New York for the tankmen's fourth win overall and third in the Eastern League.

Crimson coach Bill Brooks was merciful enough not to enter any of his menin more than one event, so that the score was not as lopsided as it might have been. Nevertheless, Harvard won all but four events, including three sweeps.

Sprinter Homer Lane may be credited with making the afternoon bearable for Columbia fans. Lane was the meet star as he took first in the freestyle at 50 and 100 yards. In the 50-free, Lane recorded a time of 21.9 to break the existing pool and Columbia records.

Exciting Races

Despite Harvard's overwhelming win, three races were exciting. In the 200-yard butterfly, Columbia's Bruce Gastel trailed the Crimson's Kirk Dolby through the first 170 yards, but pulled even near the finish, barely touching out Dolby to win. Both turned in a time of 2:21.8.

In the 200-yard breaststroke, Harvard's John Bragg and Mike Cahalan were swimming third and fourth. But first Bragg, then Cahalan, passed Columbia's Mick Mytkowicz to finish second and third, with Bragg barely losing to Steve Schlaihauf. Tony Gerhart and Dave Powlison gave Lane a great battle in the 100-free, as the Lion star won in 49.5, a victory by only 0.2 seconds.

In contrast, the Crimson's outstanding Steve Krause won the 500-free by a margin of over two minutes in 5:05.5. Five other Harvard swimmers took firsts. Captain Marty Chalfie won the 1000-free, Steve Baumgart captured the top spot in the 200-free, Jonny Munk was first in the 200-yard individual medley, and Terry Flanagan won the 200-yard backstroke event. As usual, Bill Murphy was tops in the one-meter diving.