WEST POINT, N.Y.--First day leader Princeton continued to set the pace on the second of three evenings of competition at the Eastern Seaboard Swimming Championship, but interest focused on the battle between Harvard, Penn, and North Carolina State for the runner-up spot.

The Crimson moved up a notch in the standings from third to second but hold a very slim lead over the Quakers and the Wolfpack going into the final day today. The Tigers runaway point total has now reached 229 with Harvard, Penn. and N.C. State clustered around the 140 mark. The Crimson have 149 to Penn's 146 and N.C. State's 140.

Scoring points in every race of the evening Harvard swimmers continued to perform well as they broke four University records to bring to seven the number of Harvard marks which have fallen thus far in the meet.

Dave Brumwell lowered the 400-yd. individual medley record he set last year at the Easterns to 4:13.301 in the afternoon heats and reached the six man finals. He was unable to equal that time in the championship finals and ended up 6th in 4:15.046. Bob Atkinson of Penn became the first double winner of the meet as he added a record breaking 4:05.076 performance to his earlier 200 IM record first.

Rich Baughman, swimming in the consolation finals of the same event and seemingly out of contention in the race, put on a fine sprint in the final 25 yards to move up from dead last to third place. The finish gave him tenth place over all and was good for three points.

Harvard moved into second place for the first time in the meet after its 6-10 finish in the 400 dash yard IM, but saw the lead change hands several times before regaining it for good. The Wolfpack, second after the first day, moved back into the runner-up spot momentarily after placing three men in the championship and consolation finals of the 200-yd. free style.

Captain Fred Mitchell, who had just barely reached the finals with the sixth best qualifying time, swam a very strong race to finish fourth. His time was a good 1:44.168. Charlie Campbell of Princeton successfully defended his 200-yd. free crown with a new record time of 1.41.849.

Harvard took over second place again after the next event, the 100-yd. butterfly. After breaking Tim Neville's Harvard record in the afternoon preliminaries with a 51.101 clocking, Hess Yntema swam a very strong race in the finals to finish second, lowering his own record to a fast 50.89. Bob Meade of Cornell, who had lost to Yntema on judges decisions the two previous times they had met in championship competition, made no doubt about who had won this time as he set a new Eastern record with a 50.180 clocking.

Neville, who had not swum a butterfly race all year, added a first in the consolation final of the event to a second in the 50-yd. free yesterday, as he recorded a fine time of 51.333. The 2-7 Harvard finish, good for 21 points, gave the Crimson a 111-109 lead over North Carolina State.

Tom Wolfe gave Harvard four more points with a third place finish in a consolation final of the 100-yd. backstroke, but Penn, with a 2-3-4 performance in the championship race amassed an incredible 36 points to pass the Wolfpack and the Crimson and into second.

Penn's lead was brief, however, as Harvard regained second place for the final time of the night as Phil Jonkheer, who had qualified sixth, took a fourth in the final of the 100-yd. breaststroke.

In the process Jonkheer broke one of the two Harvard records remaining from the pre-Don Gambil era as his time of 1:01.19 eclipsed the mark of 1:01.5 set by Bob Corris in 1966. Princeton took its second first of the night in the race with Bob Christiansen winning in 1:00.105.

Harvard needed to beat North Carolina State in the 800-yd. free style relay and finish just one place behind the Quakers to retain its slim hold on second going into the last day, and it did just that. In the most exciting race of the evening Crimson battled Princeton, Penn, and Yale down to the wire before taking an eventual third behind the Tigers and the Quakers.

The team of Fred Mitchell, Mike Cook, Hess Yntema, and Rich Baughman chopped a whopping twelve seconds off the old Harvard record of 7:10, with a superlative 6:58.709 performance. Cook, who had swum a very fast 1:44.6 leg on the qualifying relay in the afternoon turned in the best 200-yd. free of his career as he led the Crimson effort with an excellent 1:43.0 leg.

With good scoring potential on the final day in the 100-yd. free, 200-yd. back, 200-yd. breast stroke, 200-yd. butterfly and the 400 free relay, a second place Harvard finish now seems possible.