Swimming Team to Host Columbia In Bid for Third League Victory

The varsity swimming team, off to its finest start in seven years, will have another good chance to fatten its 5-0 record Saturday afternoon in the IAB when Columbia arrives for a 3 p. m. meet.

Columbia, like Brown and Penn, has only beaten Harvard once, and the athletic department there has taken no noticeable steps toward improving the program, so the trend is likely to continue. Two swimmers stand out on the Lion team this winter, but even their best times are far slower than those of Harvard's competitors.

In three Eastern League contests, Columbia has failed to lose by less than 47 points, and the only two events the Lions have won were in a loss to Army before vacation. Homer Lane, the best sprinter in Columbia history, won the 200-free in 1:54.0, and Bob Schliehauf was first in the breaststroke with a 2:28.8 clocking. Schliehauf, the team's captain, was actually second, but Army had stated beforehand that the man who eventually won was swimming for practice.

So the Crimson's task is simply to beat a team which has lost by sizeable margins to two squads which Harvard routed in December. Performances at the University of Connecticut Wednesday night were good enough to indicate that conditioning is not a major problem despite the two-week vacation.

Columbia is apparently trying to build for easier meets at the end of the season, and coach John Mayers is using Lane in distance events in order to improve his endurance. If Mayers should use Lane in the 50-yard or 100-yard freestyle, it could make for an interesting race, depending upon whom Bill Brooks decides to enter.