Judging Conflicts Beset Yale Meets

Yale has proved again this year that the human eye cannot judge a swimming race, especially if Yale choses the eye.

Two years ago at New Haven, Dave Hawkins of the Crimson was picked for first place in the old 150-yard individual medley by the judge in charge of naming the race winner. But the second place judge selected Hawkins as having finished second.

Judging rules state that the judge for the higher place is the ruling official. But somehow this regulation itself was overruled, and Hawkins was given second place to Yale's Sandy Gideonse.

At New Haven this year, Chouteau Dyer and Gideonse, both timed in 49.7 for the 100-yard freestyle, touched in for second place behind Yale's Rex Aubrey and his world record pace almost simultaneously.

The second place judge named Dyer as having finished second, but the judge for third place picked him for third. Again, the decision of the higher placed official should have prevailed, but Gideonse once more received the benefit of an irregularity.

It is interesting to note that in last year's Yale meet at the I.A.B., a close decision between Sigo Falk of the Crimson and Bill Fleming of the Elis for second in the breaststroke went to the Blue. If the Crimson had won the judges' verdict, it would have tied Yale.

This judging problem arises not only because the home team is required to provide the officials for the meet. There is another factor: more and more fast swimmers are appearing and are creating close races. As in track, the human eye is having increasing difficulty in as signing places at the finish.

Watch what happens in the N.C.A.A. and A.A.U. meets in the next two weeks. Without fail there will be events, usually the sprints, in which the winner will not necessarily have the fastest time. A place judge overrules a timer, but the situation remains confusing when a man who takes third can go down in the record books with a faster time than those of two people who beat him in the same race.

The solution might rest in some electronic device for recording the touch of the competitors in their respective lanes. It cannot be photographic or on the idea of an electric eye, however, because of the splashing water the competitors raise.

A supersensitive finish line is difficult to imagine, also, because it must not be affected by the waves caused by the swimmers. Yet it must respond to the lightest pressure of the hand.

Finally, not all races finish at the end of the pool. Standard pools are 25 yards long. This means that for the 220 and 440, strings must be lowered across the water for the last abbreviated lap.

For the races that finish at the pool end, however, a possible solution to the judging problem may rest in metal caps, worn on a swimmer's fingers, that would close a low-current electric circuit at the touch. Electricity in the water, though, is more than hazardous.

Since most of the judging difficulty occurs in the shortest race, the 50, there is constant talk of dropping it from the program of events entirely. But the Harvard-Yale problem of the past three years still would not be solved