Taking a short respite from Lamont and Widener, the Harvard men's swimming team gave Dartmouth some lessons in the sport Saturday at Blodgett Pool Unfortunately, the visitors from Hanover, N H proved poor students, as the Crimson walloped the Big Green, 81-32.
The first lesson came straight out of Math At whoever wins more events wins the meet Harvard grabbed 10 of 13 first-place finishes and doubled with a second place in five of those 10.
The second lesson was that winning streaks die hard. The Crimson's now stands at 26, currently the longest in Division I swimming. Even faced with the prospects of Reading Period and facing a letdown against one of the weaker squads in the Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League (EISL), the aquamen weren't about to let that distinction slip away.
But most important was the final lesson depth is as important in swimming as it is in oceanography. Harvard had enough talent to simply overwhelm its northern counterpart.
In the opening 400 medley relay, the Crimson swept the top three finishes and the lecture had begun.
Senior Larry Countryman and junior Courtney Roberts finished one-two in the 1000 free, with Co-Captain Countryman's 9 35 91 result registering as the third best in the East this season.
In the 400 IM, sophomore David Barnes an All-American in the event a year ago outdistanced the Green's Mark Jones by eight seconds to win in 4 04 59, the best Eastern finish recorded.
Barnes fell to Co-Captain Ted Chappell in Harvard's sweep of the 500 free, but their 4.32.08 and 4.37.31 ranked as the second and third top times in the region.
400 MEDLEY RELAYS 1 Harvard 1000 FREE 1 Larry Countryman(H) 9 35 91 200 FREE 1 Jeff Couture(D) 1 45 46 50 FREE 1 Jim Carbone(H) 21 69 400 IM 1 David Barnes(H) 4 04 59 1 METER 1 Dan Watson(H) 349 95 200 FLY 1 Ted Chappell(H) 1 53 24 100 FREE 1 Mark Kasevich(D) 48 01 200 BACK 1 Courtney Roberts(H) 1 57 51 500 FREE 1 Ted Chappell(H) 4 32 08 3 METER 1 Don Watson(H) 376.55.200 BREAST 1 Tim Chapman(D) 2 15 97 400 FREE RELAY 1 Harvard.
In diving, All-American sophomore Dan Watson, senior Jeff Mule, and junior Karl Illig finished in the top three positions on both the one-meter and three-meter boards.
Although many of the aquamen said they welcomed the break from studying. Coach Joe Bernal noted the problems in facing the EISL's weaker teams during January's academic crunch. "It's hard for them to keep the conditioning aspect the motivational aspect and their focus facing teams that may not make a demand on them like Dartmouth or Brown [the Crimson's next opponent]."
To combat any doldrums. Bernal has scheduled three training sessions to accommodate any classroom commitments and emphasizes motivational plays like the annual "Ironman" swim during Reading Period.
Freshman Bryan Jaffec was elected to represent the Class of '86 as Ironman. The Claremont, Calif native swam as an unofficial entrant in every event against Dartmouth, with three 500 free swims tacked on during each diving event, for a total of 6050 yards.
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