The undefeated Crimson aquamen begin the final push of their campaign to claim supremacy in Eastern swimming today as the Eastern Seaboard Swimming Championships open in Hanover, N.H.

Although Ivy champion Harvard would appear to be top dog in the championship race. Harvard will actually be cast as an underdog to national swimming power North Carolina State which is also scheduled to compete.

"NC State is good." Harvard swimming coach Ray Essick said Tuesday, "They've got five or six world class swimmers, in other words five or six as good as Hess Yntema."

One of the keys to how well Harvard does overall will be the placement of their swimmers in particular events. Each school is allowed to bring only 18 swimmers (two divers count as one swimmer) and each swimmer can be entered in only three individual and three relay events. Divers are limited to just the one and three meter competitions.

So the biggest problem for Essick will be how to place someone like Yntema. "Right now, I don't know if I'd swim Hess in the 200 free or 100 fly on the second day," Essick said. "The 200 free is going to be a bitch this year. Yntema isn't going to dominate the 200 field like he did last year. We're going to have to wait and see who else is entered in each event."

Last year Yntema won the 200 free in 1:41.79 while the best he has done this year was 1:44.8 against Cornell. His chief competition will probably come from either Princeton's Joe Loughran who beat him a month ago, or one of the "super-swimmers" from NC State.

Yntema will probably also swim in the 200 butterfly, maybe the 100 fly, and possibly the 200 individual medley. He is almost locked into swimming the 200 and 400 free and 400 medley relays. Last year he won the 200 fly and the 200 IM, but he has not swum the IM this year. "I was going to swim Hess in the IM last week against Yale," Essick said, "but I was too concerned with how the meet was going to turn out. Now I wish I had."

Harvard captain Dave Brumwell, "a great money swimmer" according to Essick, will be the Crimson's main hope in the individual medleys. Brumwell finished second to Yntema in the 200 IM and won the 400 IM in last year's Easterns.

Crimson backstroker Tom Wolf, defending champion in the 200 backstroke, is going to face a tougher field this year. But luckily for Harvard, he will have some help from freshman Duncan Pyle who has performed well this year in the IM as well as the back.

Some of the crucial events for Harvard will be the long distance freestyle competition. Last year's distance sensation. Peter Tetlow, has not trained much this year and will not be going to the meet and so freshman Paco Canales, who has handled the distance chores this season, will be counted on to carry the Crimson.

Against Princeton in his toughest test of the year, Canales finished second in both the 500 and 1000 free. In those races he beat the Tiger's Curtis Hayden, who is reputed to swim very well in championship competition. Canales will probably also swim the 1650 in addition to the two other distances.

One of Harvard's strongest strokes should be the breaststroke. "One of the real pluses for us this year." Essick said, "is that we have three instead of two breaststrokers." In addition to defending champion Ted Fullerton (in the 100 and 200 breast). Essick can rely on Brumwell who claimed second in the 200 breast last year and on freshman Ivor Gordon.

The event where Harvard will be "better than ever" is the diving. All three of the Crimson's divers, Dave English, Roger Johannigman, and Mike Toal, have performed consistently well since the exam break. English and Johannigman placed in last year's diving competition.

George Kelm and Steve Baird will be the main Harvard hopefuls in the sprinting events. Both Kelm and Baird are peaking--they both swam their best times of the year for last week against Yale in the 50 and 100 free respectively.

The other main key for Harvard will be how well the rest of Harvard's contingent does against the competition, especially from the University of North Carolina, Cornell, Navy, and Army. Most of these swimmers will be fighting to pick vital depth points for fourth, fifth, sixth, and other place finishes.

For Harvard to do well, the stars of the team would have to place first in their specialities--Wolf in the 100 and 200 back. Fullerton in the 100 and 200 breast. Brumwell in the IM, and Yntema in the fly and 200 free--while the relays finish at the top and the rest of the squad picks up important extra points.

"Honestly, I expect that we'll finish third," Essick said. "NC State should take it and then Princeton. Numerically we're just not tough enough. It'll be a miracle if anyone but State wins."

Actually, however. Harvard should probably finish second in the championship unless luck strikes them down. Last year bad luck stepped in and a disqualification in the medley relay prevented Harvard from winning as the Crimson was trimmed by Princeton 419-411. In 1973, the last time NC State competed in the Easterns. Harvard finished a measly one-half point behind the Wolfpack for third place. Hopefully this year good luck will accompany the Crimson to Hanover.