Yale Tips Freshman Swimmers With Narrow Win in Last Relay

An outstanding team performance by Harvard's freshman swimmers fell short of giving them a long-awaited victory over Yale Saturday and an undefeated season.

With only the freestyle relay remaining, the Crimson was behind by six points, so a win in the relay would have given the Yardlings the meet by a point.

Sprinter Bruce Josten gave Harvard a short lead on the first 100 yards, and Henry Watson and Bob Lawton increased it slightly so that anchorman Howie Burns had a little more than a yard advantage over Yale's outstanding Nate Cartmell.

Cartmell Tires

Burns started strongly and it appeared that Cartmell would be unable to catch him. But halfway through the leg. Cartmell began to move up on the fatigued Burns. Cartmell passed him with 60 yards left and won as a tremendous cheer went up from Yale's fans and team. The Elis' time was 3:17.6-as compared to Harvard's 3:18.4-a freshman record by 0.3 seconds.

Burns's exhaustion was understandable. Early in the meet he was second in the 200-free with a 1:48.8. and only five minutes before the final relay began, he had finished the 500-free in a fast 4:57.8. for a crucial three points behind teammate Henry Watson.

The Yardlings, who are coached by Benn Merritt, trailed from the start of the meet after losing the medley relay by a substantial margin. But they slowly closed the gap, mostly through strong performances by Watson, Lawton, and Tim Chetin.

Bad Break

After Burns and Watson took second and third in the second event, the 200-free, the Crimson got a bad break in the 50-free. An important match-up between Josten and Cartmell failed to materialize when Josten jump-started twice and was disqualified. Teammate Craig Sewell rallied to prevent a Yale sweep, but Harvard trailed. 18-7.

In the individual medley. Chetin and Lawton were originally third and fourth, but then started to move on Yale's men and narrowly swept the event. Chetin's time was 2:02.8.

After the Elis swept the dive, to up their advantage to 11 points again. Sewell earned first in the butterfly, and Josten touched out Eli Jim Nesbit for a second in the 100-free in 49.0. -B. H. B.