In February, Scott Meadow, Harvard's bodybuilding phenomenon, worked out in obscurity for four-and-a-half hours a day in a converted squash court in Dunster House. His only aim was to "chisel out an art form" for the coming "Mr. Collegiate USA" contest in April.

However, the Winthrop House junior has become a celebrity of sorts in recent weeks, receiving extensive television and newspaper coverage as well as winning one tournament and placing second in another.

Meadow was the subject of a half page articlein The Boston Globe in the middle of March which was followed by coverage in suburban papers. Two weeks later, Meadow won the "Mr. Northern States" title in Dedham as a warm-up to the "Mr. Collegiate" contest. The next week, he traveled to Ohio where he faced 20 opponents for the "Mr. Collegiate" trophy. The competition was stiff as all contestants were required to have won an AAU district level contest in order to enter.

Meadow was runner-up and could be declared the winner if the bodybuilder who won is disqualified. "There is a big controversy going on now and I still might win because the school for refrigerator repairmen, which the winner attends, isn't accredited," Meadow said.

Since his big effort in the Collegiate contest, Meadow slacked off to a 40-minute-per-day workout but his fame has continued to surge.

Pat Mitchell of WBZ-T.V. interviewed and filmed Meadow working out and posing in his Dunster weightroom. The spot appeared in a ten-minute segment of "Eyewitness Report."

Two weeks ago, Meadow appeared on WNAC-T.V.'s "Bob Hilton Show." Meadow is sorry he did, however, calling his appearance "a fiasco." "They cheapened what I do. They wanted me to come out and rip off my shirt," Meadow said.

Meadow has eased up on workout for several reasons, the most important of which is academic. But there are other motivations for stopping, relating to the use of steroids by other bodybuilders to enlarge their physiques. "I have come as far as I can go in this sport without taking steroids," Meadow said. "I want to wait for more word on these drugs, specifically, if they are cancerous and until they can be detected by the AAU," he explained.

Meadow plans to enter or judge a contest to be held in the IAB on June 5 which will be his last contest of the year. "The sport is a major part of my life and I will probably just go back. It's part of my routine and it's hard to shake it," Meadow said.

Until then, Meadow only wants "a normal college existence for a couple of months."