Swimmers and strugglers of all shapes and sizes gathered at Blodgett pool last night for the 1980 edition of the annual Intramural Swim Meet.

South House emerged as the victor with a total of 115 points, followed closely by Kirkland House with 104 and Quincy with 97.

A tight meet from start to finish, South House clinched first place only at the very end as Debbie VanRyanwon the Women's 200 meter freestyle and the SoHo women combined to take the 200 freestyle relay event.

The meet opened with an exciting head-to-head race in the co-ed 200 meter freestyle relay event, as the Eliot House squad nipped arch-rival Kirkland by a mere 20 seconds.

Lowell House dominated the women's 200 meter medley relay, while Quincy House cruised to victory in the men's version. Quincy's anchor man Lance Miller awed the crowd by making up for his "open" lane turn with sheer power and speed in the straights. "We blew them out of the water!" said the jubilant Miller, who shaved his beard for the event.

Judy Carpenter of Adams House flew away with first place in the women's 50 meter butterfly, but Quincy's Doug Ames had to turn on all the juice to win by a hair's breadth in the men's 50 meter fly.

Reactivating

Last year's swim captain Maura Costin came out of retirement to help the Lowell House cause, winning both the women's 50 and 100 meter freestyle events. Andy Carson of Eliot House turned in a parallel performance, winning the men's 50 and 100 freestyles with ease.

South House's Emily Feldman struck a blow for the Quad, displaying great versatility by winning both the women's 50 meter backstroke and and the gruelling 100 meter individual medley.

Show-off

The story of the night, however, was tall, lanky John Bruce of Quincy House. Bruce never heard the false-start buzzer at the outset of the men's 50 meter backstroke, and erroneously completed the race in record intramural time of 26:9. Undaunted, Bruce summoned up reserve strength and won the race again, this time when it counted.

Kirkland's Ivor Gordon, one-time member of the South African National Swim Team, blew the doors off the men's 50 meter breast stroke and 100 meter individual medley events, posting impressive time of 28:00 and 58:81, respectively.