Crimson Mermen Sink Dartmouth, 78-35

The Harvard men's swimming juggernaut tuned up for its February showdown with Princeton by downing an outclassed Dartmouth squad at Blodgett Pool Saturday, 78-35.

By all rights, the headline-grabber in this meet should have been the return to competition of sophomore "brickhouse" Julian Mack, but as is so often the case, sophomore superstar Bobby Hackett stole the show.

All Hackett did was knife his way to a school record of 1:38.45 in the 200 freestyle, then come back--after a minute or two of rest as the 50-yd. freestyle was held--to capture first in the 200-yd. Individual Medley.

Sandwiched between Hackett's impressive double was Mack's triumphant return, a 21.81 first-place time in the 50 free. "That's a pretty good time considering how little training he's done," co-captain Malcolm Cooper said yesterday. "He's going to be even better in about a month."

The Big Green managed to win only two events on the day, the 200 breaststroke--an event in which Harvard is woefully weak--and the meaningless final relay.

Senior diver Jamie Greacen led a Crimson sweep off the board by winning both the one-meter and three-meter events. Freshman Tim Maximoff also pulled off an admirable double, taking the 1000 free in 9:31.79 and the 100 free in 48.70.

Other firsts for Harvard came from ever-improving Campari Knoepffler in the 200 fly, Geoff Seelen in the 200 backstroke, Mike Coglin in the 500 freestyle, and the 400 medley relay team.

Bring on the Tigers.