East House rallied Thursday and held off a strong catch-up bid by North House Friday, to win the biannual Radeliffe Swim Marathon by only 15 laps, 2866 to 2851. South House was a discouraging third with 1629 laps.

In an effort to build a psychological advantage and to demoralize the other girls. East started out fast to build a 200-lap lead after the first day of the week-long contest. It was at this point that South was virtually eliminated.

North did not yield to the pressure however, and retaliated slowly but surely to thrill observers by earning a four-lap advantage Wednesday night North appeared to have the momentum and some feared that East would be overwhelmed.

Stubborn Mermaids

But as Curt Gowdy once so correctly pointed out. "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." and East surged back Thursday to lead North by ??? laps North's vailant efforts the next day wernot enough to overcome the stubborn East House girls.

The week's total of just over ???? laps was far short of the record of over ???? laps established a year ago. But it compared favorably to last spring's total of 150 laps.

Things are back to normal at the pool, though one swimmer reported that the usually blue water is now green.