The Harvard swimming team, unpredictable as ever, opens its fortieth season at 3 p.m. today against Army in the IAB in a rematch of last year's meet which saw the Cadets pull out an exciting 59-54 win in the final relay.

This year the script seems remarkably similar. Neither team appears strong enough to take the meet before the final freestyle relay, and whichever team wins that event will probably win the meet.

Don Gambril, who will be aiming for a win in his first meet since coming to Harvard as head coach, believes that the Army meet will be typical of many of the contests this season. "Most of the meets could go either way," he said. "We can win just as easily as we can lose, and in most cases the outcome of the meets will depend on the final relay."

Harvard Strengths

The middle and distance freestyle events will be Harvard's greatest strengths, Gambril said. Sophomore sensation Fred Mitchell and freshman Dick Baughman are among the best in the East in anything from 200 to 1000 yards, he said. Mitchell, in particular, will be worth watching. In a preseason meet before Thanksgiving, he unofficially shattered the varsity record in the 1000 yard freestyle by over 13 seconds and appears headed towards national prominence.

Gambril rates the sprints and the individual medley as the team's second strongest area, along with the one-meter and three-meter dives. The major weakness of the squad, he says, lies in the specialty strokes: the breast, back, and fly, but Gambril believes that the weakness will be more than overcome by strength in the freestyle events.

Outlook Uncertain

The outlook for the season appears uncertain, but Gambril said that the opportunity for a fine season is definitely present. "I am very pleased with the preseason. We avoided being hurt by the flu, and the guys worked hard and are coming into the season in fairly good physical shape," he said. His strategy for the season is to "take each meet one at a time. We will be pointing towards the big meets later in the season against Dartmouth, Princeton, Pennsylvania, Yale, and of course, the Easterns," he added.

By February. Gambril expects to have the team in excellent shape to face the tough part of their Eastern and Ivy League schedule. Although he classifies Penn as the team to beat again this year, he thinks that the other Eastern teams, including Harvard, will be fairly evenly matched.

Gambril noted that a win against Army this afternoon is important for team morale. "We tapered off more than normal because the team has been working without a break for eight weeks, and besides the intersquad meets, hasn't had any competition," he explained.

There has been a great deal of speculation about the approaching season, and Gambril, like others interested in Harvard swimming, may know something more definite about the team's prospects after today's meet.