Cahalan Tenth in NCAA's

Swimming captain Mike Cahalan finished tenth last night in the 50-free at the NCAA championships at Iowa State University in Ames.

Cahalan, who had been rated tenth nationally on the basis of best times this season, finished in 21.47 in the preliminaries while competing against eventual winner Dave Edgar of Tennessee. In the consolations, Cahalan's time was 21.51. Two weeks ago, he was third in the Easterns, setting a Harvard record of 21.4.

Edgar's winning time in the finals was 20.30, 0.1 seconds slower than his NCAA record time. UCLA's Barry Townsend was second in 20.76.

In the last few years, Harvard has sent only a few men to the Nationals. In 1969, Cahalan and Steve Krause were unable to score at the NCAA's, and last year no one went. Only Cahalan and backstroker Dan Kobick were qualified this winter, and Kobick did not want to continue practicing after the Easterns.

Cahalan will also swim Saturday in the 100-free, but will probably not do as well as he did in the 50. Edgar, who holds the American record of 45.0. is the favorite is that event, too. Cahalan's best time is 47.8.

As expected. Indiana is first in the team standings with 121 points, 60 more than USC. Other individual winners were John Kinsella in the 500-free (4:27.39) and Gary Hall in the medley (1:52.2). Both swim for Indiana.