Mermen, Big Green Racing for Lead

It has been said that history repeats itself, but the Harvard swimming team will be out to disprove that saying when it hosts a powerful Dartmouth team Saturday at 3:30 p.m. in a battle for first place in the five team scramble for the Eastern title.

Last year Don Gambril's swimmers coasted through meets with Army and Navy in December before dropping a tough 57-56 contest with the Big Green in early January. The Crimson ended up 4-3 in the league in fourth place while Dartmouth finished second only to Princeton with a 6-1 mark.

This season Harvard has again recorded easy wins over the two military academies, and as in last January's meet Saturday's showdown with the Big Green will be a crucial turning point in the season.

Dartmouth, which scored an incredible upset in its first meet, beating a Princeton squad which inflicted the Big Green's only loss last year, is extremely deep and powerful throughout its line-up.

Its times for the Princeton upset bordered on the unbelievable for a first meet as eight Dartmouth swimmers and both relays placed among the top ten times in the country.

A Harvard victory would be a mild upset, but the Crimson have an excellent shot at knocking the Big Green off their temporary perch stop the Eastern League. "On paper they're 30 points better than us." Gambril said Thursday, "but we have a chance to win every race despite their better times, so we'll just have to wait and see."

Unlike last January, Harvard will have a number of intangible advantages. The meet will be at home instead of unfamiliar Hanover, and the Crimson took its first Christmas training trip to the Canary Islands and is in far better shape than at a comparable point last year. Another advantage, which could work to the Crimson's disadvantage as well, is that it has yet to go all out in a meet while Dartmouth pulled out all the stops in the Princeton meet, when the entire team shaved down.

"I'm glad they swam those times against Princeton." Gambril said, "at least we know what we are facing." And, although the Crimson, in most cases, swam for wins instead of times against Army and Navy, they will definitely swim much faster Saturday. Gambril said, "I'd be very surprised if Dartmouth betters more than two of their times."

Either Way

The two teams are so evenly matched in almost every event that the meet will probably be extremely close or. as is unlikely but possible, it could go big either way. "It should be a great day for the spectator." Gambril said, "because the races should be close all the way."

Dartmouth holds a slight edge in the two relays, where the meet could be won or lost if one team takes both events, and is relatively weak in the individual medley. But it is hard to point to any real Dartmouth weakness in any event on the program. In the freestyles, an area of Harvard strength. Dartmouth has surprisingly better times and the depth to match the Crimson in every distance.

In the 1000-yd free, for instance, two Big Green swimmers. John LeMeal and Jim Bayles, are well under ten minutes, while the Crimson's Rich Baughman and Hess Yntema, both capable of going well under the barrier, are still hovering at the ten minute mark.

It is particularly hard to point to key matches because every race is literally too close to call. For instance in the 200-yd breastwork Harvard swimmers have recorded times of 2:17 and 2:19 while Dartmouth has both a 2:16 and a 2:17 breastroker. The freestyle races will, however, be particularly close, and the Crimson must take a majority of points here in order to stand a chance of winning the meet.

Another intangible factor which might influence Saturday's score is sickness. The recent flu epidemic hit the Harvard team relatively mildly. "Illness could play a big part." Gambril noted Thursday. "If either team loses one or two key men it could make a big difference." Whether Harvard wins the meet or not could make a big difference in Gambril's assessment of the season as well.