Last night's swimming meet against UConn was the sort of meet you'd expect during reading period, and with little fanfare, Harvard routed the Huskies, 66-38, in the IAB pool.

It was the Crimson's fourth win in five contests and it set the stage for Saturday's important matchup with Dartmouth, the 12th-ranked team in the nation.

Last night some swimmers entered their regular events in order to get a trial run before facing Dartmouth, while others preferred to keep the pressure to a minimum and swam strokes to which they are not accustomed.

But it never really mattered. Harvard took the medley relay in 3:43.9; Henry Watson was first in the 1000-free (10:45.8); and Rich Roebuck edged to a 1:56.8 victory in the 200-free. The score then was 18-7, and the Crimson won another three events before UConn's Tom Welch won the butterfly in 2:10.5.

That win enabled the Huskies to draw within 15 points, 38-23, and then came one of the night's few exciting moments. Horvitz and UConn's Ken Phillips staged a stroke-for-stroke race in the 100-free, with Ackermann winning in a rather slow 50.0 and Phillips second in 50.3.

This may have inspired the Huskies. They took the next two events as captain Ted Brindamour won the back stroke in 2:12.5 and Ed Becker won the 500-free in 5:30.8.

At that point, the Crimson added the finishing touches when Dave Strauss was first in the breaststroke (2:23.7), and he freestyle relay team eased to a victory in 3:23.4.

Some Harvard swimmers admitted being tired last night because of a regular afternoon practice yesterday.