Swimming against Harvard--which was coming off a dissapointing loss to Army and gearing up for a big meet with Princeton--Dartmouth may have been a victim of circumstance.

Or it might just have been lousy.

No matter what the reason, however, a record was equalled at Blodgett Pool Saturday, when the Harvard men's swim team defeated the Big Green, 102-11, the largest margin of victory possible using the 5-3-1 scoring system.

Because a team is guaranteed one point for third place in every individual event, the best a squad can do is to take first and second place in 11 individual races and win both of the relay events.

And that is precisely what Harvard (4-1 overall, 4-1 ECAC, 3-0 Ivy League) did to Dartmouth, perhaps wanting to show its archrival, the Princeton Tigers, that the squad will be more than ready for the duel meet between the teams on February 7.

Because the Crimson and the Tigers are the only two Ivy League squads with perfect records, the meet should decide the league championship, as it has for the past two seasons.

The Dartmouth devastation was the first competition for the Crimson following a 10-day training trip in Key West, Fla., a trip which the Harvard captains felt was very valuable.

"As a result of our trip, I feel we really became a team," Co-Captain Dan Simkowitz said. "By now, most of the freshman know what is expected of them. This was the best Dartmouth meet I have ever seen our team swim."

Junior John Pearson proved to be the top point-earner for Harvard in the contest, winning three individual events. Pearson finished first in the 1000-yd. freestyle and then took the next event as well, the 200 freestyle.

Later in the meet, Pearson also captured the 500 freestyle, touching just ahead of teammate Bill Bird in a time of 4:40.55.

Juniors Dave Berkoff, Jeff Peltier and John Ritch each had one individual victory and one relay win. Peltier snagged the top spot in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:56.89, while combining with senior Clay Miller and freshmen Jim Lutz and Mark Shagena to claim the 400 medley relay.

Berkoff's time of 1:55.94 was good for first place in the 200 individual medley and Ritch swam the 100 freestyle in 47.74 seconds to clinch the race. Berkoff and Ritch, along with Bird and senior Jim Kornish also grabbed the 400 freestyle relay.

Co-Captain Simkowitz was the victor in the 200 backstroke with a time of 1:56.19. Junior Chris Smith won the 50 freestyle in 22.30 seconds, just edging out teammate Kresimir Peharda, who finished in 22.34.

Sophomore Scott Hoy proved the best in the 200 breatstroke, touching out Lutz by .13 seconds, 2:11.77 to 2:11.90.

In the diving competitions, sophomore Pat Healy and freshman Phil Araoz were the winning combination for the Crimson, as the two divers finished one-two on both the 1 and 3-meter boards.

After the loss to Army in December, it was important for Harvard to reestablish itself against Dartmouth before travelling to the Tigers' den. And by Saturday evening, it was clear that the Princeton meet this year will be another in what has become an annual showdown for the Ivy title.

"We know that we have the potential to beat them," Co-Captain Lars Reierson said. "Now we just have to swim hard for three weeks and be confident going to Princeton."