Water Poloists Finish Fifth In International Competition

The Harvard Water Polo Team surprised quite a few Canadians this weekend by capturing fifth place in the North American Championships in Peps, Quebec. Harvard was seeded 17th out of 20 teams coming from every Canadian Province and several U.S. cities.

The Crimson compiled a 5-2 record in the tournament which began Friday evening and ended Sunday afternoon. They faced and defeated teams from Montreal, Hamilton, Ottawa, Philadelphia and Cornell, while losing to the New York Athletic Club and the host team, Quebec.

Harvard finished first among the collegiate teams entered, outswimming Cornell, Penn State, Queen's University of Ontario, University of Western Ontario and McGill University.

The Crimson performed remarkably well considering that many of its top players could not afford to make the journey northward. Phil Jonchkeer, Pete Kellogg, Dan Daiss, Reed McCarty and Doug Forrester did not travel with the team. Even with many of their best individual players absent, the aquamen exhibited excellent teamwork. Outstanding efforts were turned in by Tracy (Flash) Mallory, Alan (Bozo) Bozer, and (Clark) Kent Osband as well as the usually inspired performance of captain Mike Graff.

"It was nearly impossible to rally for the final game Saturday evening against the fourth seeded team of Hamilton, Ontario," Graff said. "But I discovered a new training meal in a book of old German and old Bohemian recipes. We received a real boost and went on to upset Hamilton with a goal in the last 30 seconds, 4-3."

With freshmen Osband and Bozer improving noticeably during each game, Harvard executed the most sensational play of the tournament Sunday morning at 7:45 against heavily favored Ottawa. Before the final quarter, Mallory suggested the old submarine play. As the quarter began, Harvard won the sprint for the ball and passed backwards to Graff.

The players stopped swimming in the middle of the pool and looked at their confused opponents. After nearly 20 seconds, Mallory surfaced less than ten feet from the Ottawa goal and screamed for the ball. The pass to him was simple, for there were no defenders within ten yards.

The goalie looked bewildered and their coach was visibly upset as he threw two of his players into the water, while Mallory threw the ball into the goal to give the team a 5-4 victory.