Scoring with depth rather than individual brilliance, the Harvard women's swimming team captured the Greater Boston Championships yesterday at Northeastern.

The Crimson tallied 494 points tow wallop two-time defending champion B.U. by 57. B.C. finished third with 322, followed by Northeastern, Tufts and MIT.

The Crimson swimmers referred to the six-team competition as "a kind of dual meet" because Harvard and B.U., both Division I team, faced few challenges from the smaller squads.

Although Harvard sacrificed top honors in many races top the other five schools, the Crimson's depth and the rules of multi-team swim meets combined to create a big Harvard victory.

Instead of scoring only for first, second or third place finished, up to three swimmers from each team can earn points if their times are among the 12 best in an event.

"The outcome of a meet is less certain when you have 12 people who can score." Harvard Coach Vicki Hays said last night. "This meet has to be played differently. Normally, it's just a battle between your top two swimmers and their top two swimmers But here we have a chance to display our depth"

Although B.U. went one-two-three in the 100 freestyle, Harvard picked up almost as many points by getting three swimmers with in the top 12.

The teams saw few personal bests for Harvard. Senior Janie Smith took the 100 individual medley in 1:01 74, her best time of the season and only 0.01 seconds off the meet record.

Senior Co-Captain Jeanie Floyd edged out her B.U. opponent by 0.2 seconds in the 500 freestyle, the third time in the past three meets that Floyd has come from behind in the last length to earn a first in 500 or 1000 freestyle competition.

"I like to let my opponent set the pace," Floyd said. "Instead of sprinting, I just keep up with the leader and wait toe bring it home."

Most of the meet's 16 events were sprints, which caused Hays some concern in the early going. "Our sprinting may not be as strong as B.U.'s and all the 50 and 100 yard events may swing the meet in their favor," Hays said.

Although Harvard earned few first in the sprints, it managed to keep up with B.U. and maintained control throughout the meet.

According to Hays, "shorter events make it easier for all teams to participate. Not every team has a person who can do 200 fly or 1000 free"