Although the Harvard women's swimming team turned in its best all-around performance of the year at Blodgett Pool Saturday, defending New England champion Maine proved too strong in the end as the Black Bears dunked the Crimson, 79-52.

Harvard put on a strong effort in every event, finishing in the top three in all but one. Few of those were first place performances though, as Maine took the number one slot in 11 of the 15 events.

New Stars on the Horizon

The Crimson profitted heavily from the efforts of freshman standouts Adele Joel, in the 500-yd. freestyle, and Emily Feldman who turned in a strong second-place showing in the 200-yd. freestyle.

Diving coach John Walker said he was "very pleased" with the performance of his lone diver, freshman Pam Stone. Stone took first place in the three-meter event and a second from the one-meter board. He felt the strength of her victory came from her outstanding consistency.

The Crimson got its first victory in the 500 freestyle, as Joel won in an outstanding time of 5:28.46. She followed with a very close second in the 50-yd. breaststroke with a time of 32:91. Co-captain Maura Costin added two important second places in the freestyle sprints.

The Harvard team finished respectably as Joel turned in another victory in the 100-yd. breaststroke, followed by a Crimson win in the 200 freestyle relay.

The women will face Brown January 9. Walsh said this will be another tough meet, but feels the team will benefit from the difficult schedule. "The team is swimming well and the freshmen are getting experience," Walsh said. "I expect to see a good deal of improvement by the end of the season."