Before this season began, aquawomen coach Stephanie Walsh predicted Brown and Princeton as the teams to beat for the Ivy Championship. After last night, only the Tigers are left, as the women's swim team handed previously unbeaten Brown a 78-53 loss at Blodgett Pool.

Walsh's prediction of "another close one" didn't look either accurate or promising in the early going, as the Bruins jumped out to an early 12-4 lead. The meet opened as the Harvard team is accustomed to opening its meets with a loss in the 400 medley relay.

What happened next, though, was neither expected nor welcome. Maureen Gildea suffered her first loss of the year in the 500 free, managing only second place in a mediocre 5:13.08. Brown's Carol Downey won the event in 5:07.39.

The next event, the 200 free, showed that the aquawomen weren't about to give up, with Norma Barton winning the first of her three individual events in 1:58.12. Teammate Terri Frick finished just six-tenths of a second behind, and Harvard only trailed by one, 13-12.

The rest of the contest illustrated established team strengths and weaknesses, namely relatively poor performances in the back and breaststrokes, and overwhelming power in the butterfly events.

Following a total of three points in the 100 yard backstroke and breaststroke events, the tandem of Barton and Kathleen McCloskey finished a strong one-two in the 200 yard fly, with Barton setting a New England record of 2:08.16 in the process.

Later in the meet, the two freshmen again placed in the two top places, this time in the 100 yard fly, and Barton set her second New England record of the night, finishing with a :58.32.

Freestyle specialist Janie Smith turned in another sterling performance, winning both the 50 and 100 yard races, as well as finishing second in the 100 backstroke.

As they have been doing all season, Kathy Davis and Terri Frick teamed up to grab the top two places in the 400 individual medley, with Davis winning the event in 4:46.35.

The Crimson's diving corps also turned in their customarily strong performances, with Pam Stone and Adriana Holy finishing one-two in both the one and three meter events. The diving events added particularly crucial points to the Crimson tally, with the eight points gained in the one meter putting the aquawomen on top for the first time all night, and an identical number in the three meter finally putting the Crimson over the magic 66 point total.

Even after the team had clinched the win, the aquawomen continued to drown the Bruins, with Davis' second place finish in the penultimate 200 yard breaststroke, and the teams narrow victory in the meet ending 400 yard freestyle relay.

The team of Barton, Frick, McCloskey, and Smith cruised in with an admirable 3:44.64 to post the 78-53 final score.

The team appeared to be in top form having recently returned from a vacation training trip to St. Croix, Virgin Islands. Walsh said "the team trained hard down at St. Croix," but added, "we didn't expect times to drop that much tonight, but they did drop."

I.M. swimmer Davis Wynne concurred with the coach, at least in some sense. As she said, "The sunshine at St. Croix really got us psyched."

harvard 78 Brown 53 at Blodgett Pool

400 Medley Relay: 1. Brown 4:14.22 (Pride, Doberneck, Yeuter, Lorren; 500 Freestyle: 1. Downey (B) 5:07.39; 2. Gildea (H); 3. Davis (H); 200-yd freestyle: 1. Barton (H) 1:58.12; 2. Frick (H); 3. Heggie (B); 100-yd. BACKSTROKE: 1. Derby (B) 1:01.64; 2. Smith (H); 3. Pride (B); 100-yd. breaststroke: 1. Heggie (B) 1:10.92; 2. Doberneck (B); 3. Ely (B); 200-yd. butterfly: 1. Barton (H) 2:08.16; 2. McCLOSKEY (H); 3. Yeuter (B).

ONE METER DIVING: 1. Stone (H) 240.90; 2. Holy (H) 226.15; 3. Ratti (B$ 180.90; 100-yd. freestyle: 1. Smith (H) 55.22; 2. Downey (B); 3. McCloskey (H); 200-yd. backstroke: 1. Pride (B) 2:16.30; 2. Derby (B); 3. Erickson (B); 400-yd. individual medley: 1. Davis (H) 4:46.35; 2. Frick (H); 3. Megginson (B); 50-yd. freestyle: 1. Barton (H) 58.32; 2. McCloskey (H); 3. McClellan (B); Three meter diving: 1. Stone (H) 253.85; 2. Holy (H) 213.25; 3. LeVine (B) 170.20; 200-yd. breaststroke: 1. Heggie (B) 2:30.27; 2. Davis (H); 3. Doberneck (B); 400-yd. freestyle relay: Harvard 3:44.64 (Barton, Frick, McCloskey, Smith).