Swimmers Falter in NCAA's; Disqualification Mars 3rd Day

The Harvard swimming team, considered a cinch to place among the top 20 squads in the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships held in Long Beach, Calif., March 28-30, was unexpectedly disqualified from the third day of competition after two days of disappointing performances and finished the meet with a dismal two points.

On Saturday morning, the third day of the meet, Crimson coach Ray Essick was notified that no Harvard swimmers were entered in that day's events because no entry cards had been turned in. NCAA rules state that entry cards for all swimmers must be turned in by 7:30 p.m. the night before an event is to be held.

In a team meeting on Saturday morning Essick explained that he remembered turning in Saturday's entry cards on Thursday, well in advance of the deadline. When notified of the disqualification on Saturday, he had no way of accounting for the cards' disappearance. He appealed the disqualification three times, but to no avail.

Yntema Foiled

Saturday had figured to be Harvard's most productive day, as Hess Yntema was slated to swim the 200-yd. backstroke and Ted Fullerton and Dave Brumwell the 200-yd. breastroke. Yntema in particular had an excellent chance of finishing in the top six.

The first two days of competition featured generally lackluster performances by the Crimson aquamen. Only the medley-relay team of Wolf, Fullerton, Yntema, and Neville could manage to score, picking up two points with a 12th place finish.

In the other events, it was apparent that the Crimson swimmers had peaked for the Eastern Seabord Championships two weeks earlier, as their NCAA times were consistently lower than the Eastern clockings.