The Harvard men's swimming team protected its unblemished dual meet record yesterday, crushing Brown, 133-75, in front of 50 enthusiastic spectators at Blodgett Pool.
The Crimson (now 3-0) kept its main goal of a perfect dual meet record for the 1987-'88 campaign in tact, while warming up for the Alabama Invitational, to be held this weekend in Tuscaloosa.
The aquamen, who knocked off Navy and Columbia rather handily last weekend, dominated the meet from the outset and claimed first place in 11 of 13 events.
Harvard was led in part by freshman standout Scott Jaffe, one of the world's premier breaststrokers and a gold medalist at the National Sports Festival last summer.
Jaffe opened the individual event scoring with an impressive five-second victory in the 1000 meter freestyle. He anchored the second- *** freestyle relay.
"Scott is one of the top swimmers in the league," said Harvard Coach Joe Bernal, who is trying to improve Jaffe's versatility by using him in events other than his forte--the breast stroke. "He ought to have a great impact.
But Jaffe wasn't the only standout for the aquamen, as the Harvard sophomore class, most notably Mark Shagena, Ken Johnson and Jim "Spike" Lutz, contributed significantly to the squad's third straight 40-plus point win this season.
"Many of the sophomores who struggled last year in their first college seasons have become impact swimmers for us this year," Co-Captain Chris Smith said. "Now that they have one year's experience under their belts, they're starting (no read) everybody."
"Jim Lutz's performance in the 200 breast stroke was by far the most impressive performance of the night," Co-Captain Bill Bird said. "Everyone is contributing, from the freshmen all the way up to the seniors."
Bernal couldn't help but agree with his enthusiastic seniors.
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