Harvard men's swimming coach Joe Bernal's attempts to save the University of Pennsylvania from total embarrassment proved futile Saturday, as the Quakers blushed to a 80-32 loss at Blodgett Pool.
Unlike last week when he had to place his top competitors in their best events to upset Indiana, Bernal kept the score from running up against Penn by entering many of this charges unofficially and in off events.
Still, it seemed that the Quakers' objective was to have fun rather than compete. "We knew we had no chance of winning so we took this meet lightly," Quaker senior Bob Taffet said. "We enjoy this meet traditionally." To prove his point Taffet spent the better part of the meet joking with friends in the stands.
From start fo finish, Penn justified its 18 season record and left in some doubt whether the whole team would survive the meet.
Survival Training
In the 400-yd. medley relay, one Quaker butterflyer practically drowned in the final 25 yds. while in the next event, a Penn diver almost collided with the one-meter board before smacking the water with his back.
The final event, however, summed up the state of Quaker swimming when Harvard's unofficial 400-yd. freestyle relay team of divers Steve Schramm and Jeff Mule and managers Lorren Elkins and Jacques Hugon beat out two Penn squads.
Shcramm's .57 split in the relay established a personal best as did his performance on the three meter board. His score of 337.85 was just 16.55 points short of the Blodgett Pool record set by Hoosier All-American Rob Bollinger and would have earned Schramm a silver medal in last week's meet against Indiana.
Hail and Farewell
"I felt relaxed--as if it were practice," Schramm said after the meet. "I was also conscious that it was my last home dual meet."
In their final shots at competing in Blodgett, seniors Ned Cahoon and Carlos Dobal together combined for 11 points. Co-captain Cahoon struck gold in the 100-yd. freestyle event, finishing in a personal best of 48.42 but had to settle for second in the 50-yd. freestyle, just .26 seconds behind teammate Bobby Hackett's 21.80. Dobal scored the only Crimson points in the 200-yd. butterfly, completing the grueling race in 2:09.89 for second place.
Saturday did not belong exclusively to the seniors, however, as freshman David Lundberg set Harvard and Blodgett pool records while qualifying for the NCAAs in the 400-yd. individual medley.
Setting the Pace
Swimming in the lane next to Lundberg, teammate Ted Chappell paced the breaststroker through the butterfly and
Harvard 80, Penn 32
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