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CRIMSON WINTER SPORTS ROUNDUP
ON THE POSITIVE SIDE: Though Harvard's traditionally major sports have struggled with dismal winter seasons this year, not all the news is bad. As February brings back a full schedule of events, four Crimson squads carry undefeated records, and three others remain above the .500 level.
With the approach of tournaments and stiff Ivy League competition, the men's swim team, undoubtedly the leader this season, looms large as Harvard's biggest hope for national success. The powerful squash teams also have a shot at fine finishes, and the women fencers appear headed for at least a winning season.
And as the teams come back to life this week, some of the biggest thrillers of the year come immediately, with the aquamen in Princeton and the harriers at the GBC's. Watch out, sports.
Men's Swim
Seventeen consecutive dual meet wins ... A perfect 6-0 record so far this year, the closest contest leaving Army 29 points behind ... Charges of complacency and laziness surrounding this gifted squad.
That's the story for the men's swim team so far this season, by far the most talented and successful of the winter's teams. Joe Bernal's conglomeration of swift aquawonders are sitting haughtily atop the impressive pile of statistics; but as the season resumes this week, the Crimson swimmers face the ultimate test--the Chem 20 of their water world--this Saturday.
Defending Eastern champs Princeton will host the Crimson in scenic New Jersey on that day, and everything will be on the line at the Princeton pool--the Harvard streak, the Ivy title and a big psychological edge for the upcoming Easterns (March 1-3 at Blodgett).
The Crimson took last year's showdown with the Tigers, 58-55; but Princeton came back in the Easterns to nab a 364-356 win. With All-American sprinter Julian Mack returning to the Harvard ranks after a half-season layoff, the strong lineup--including veterans Bobby Hackett, co-captains Malcolm Cooper and Eric Seder, and freshman stars Tim Maxim off and Lee Menichella--looks stronger every day.
Forget the joke of a meet against the Dutch national team. That 44-41 win was garnered in slow motion. Cruise speed will return this weekend.
Men's Squash
Injuries and illness almost broke the squash team's back in the pre-exam rush, but coach Dave Fish shuffled and scrambled enough to put together a 7-2 victory over Williams during the reading period and keep the racquetmen's record unblemished, raising it to 4-0.
A sore foot sidelined number one star Mike Desaulniers and a twisted ankle kept number four George Ball inactive. Captain John Havens, the number two regular and number one sub for Desaulniers, battled with a sore arm which cost him a chance at a win in the Williams meet.
Strong efforts from the lower lineup, Chip Robie, John Heller and Joe Summers, saved the day against Williams; but Fish will need his heavy hitters back in form for this weekend's duel with Ivy champ Princeton.
Before the Williams clash, the squad had not dropped a match, taking three 9-0 wins against Amherst, Army and Trinity. The Crimson will not be able to hold that kind of advantage against the Tigers; but with a healthy lineup, a 5-0 record is within reach.
Women's Squash
A young and talented women's squash team heads into the second half of the winter campaign after a strong pre-exam finish in January. Coach Paul Moses' 6-0 team whipped Dartmouth and Williams, 6-1 and 5-2, respectively, before exams.
Captain Jenny Stone, with a 5-0 record, leads the trio of Crimson racquet women who have posted perfect records for the season. Joining Stone are junior Margo McGlade, 6-0, and first-year sensation Courtney Stimpson, 6-0.
Top-ranked Becky Tung has sat out the last two matches with a sore knee; and the Harvard success despite her absence makes the wins especially impressive.
With Nell Foreman and Wendy Sonnabend joining the rest of the lineup, Harvard will carry a strong contingent to New Haven this weekend in search of the prestigious Howe Cup. With Tung expected to return for the weekend action, the women will move ahead full strength for the heavy Ivy schedule awaiting them in February.
Women's Fencing
When Dartmouth threw three left-handers at the Crimson women in the team's only January meet. Harvard stumbled a bit at the start. But a comeback victory by captain Kathy Lowry and a strong showing by junior Jenny Laforet turned the tide on the Hanover lancers and upped the Harvard record to 4-0.
Freshman Carolyn Powell, who went down to defeat in the Dartmouth match, has proved herself a reliable addition to the Crimson lineup since her astounding debut against Southeastern Massachusetts when she notched 5-0, 5-1, and 5-0 wins.
As a team, the fencers have looked solid all season, carving out three fairly convincing wins and a fourth narrow edge against the tough MIT contingent. With Princeton in line for this weekend, the Ivy battles begin; and the women will need their quickest parries to keep their record perfect.
Men's Fencing
For the men behind the masks, exams were a somewhat joyous celebration of a tension-packed, wild win over Dartmouth, 14-13, before the January break.
In one of the finest contests of the winter season--in any sport--the men locked horns with a spunky Hanover squad and knotted the score at 13-all with one bout to go.
Enter first-year fencer Steve Biddle, a sophomore who took up the sport only a year earlier. The Crimson epeeman battled Dartmouth's top epeeman, Kai Christensen, in the nerve-racking decision-maker, and he scored a 5-2 win to give Harvard the match and a 4-1 record.
Captain Gene Vastola has turned in consistently superb performances this season, winning three bouts against Dartmouth, with only three touches against him in that meet, and going 3-0 against Army to enter February with a 6-0 winning streak.
Epeeman Mike Bierer has also steadied the Crimson attack, and he and his teammates face a long two months as the season resumes, beginning today at Holy Cross and finishing with the IFA Championships scheduled for March 9 and 10 in Cambridge.
Men's Track
If only Harvard could top Northeastern, peace and contentment might reign within the spirit of coach Bill McCurdy. But a dual meet win over the Huskies was not in the cards for the 1978-79 winter season as Harvard dropped its first meet of the year to the Huntington Ave. speedsters, 80-56.
The meet was a tale of frustration, capped by the finish of a scintillating mile race in which Harvard's John Murphy fell just short at the tape, losing to All-American Bruce Bickford by 0.14 seconds despite his personal best time of 4:04.0.
Captain Geoff Stiles continued his superb season with a pole vault win and a second-place high jump finish. In January, Stiles set a new NEAAU record with a 16 ft. 6 3/4 in. vault.
Harvard's excellent two-mile squad of Adam Dixon, Chris Nicodemus, Thad McNulty and Ed Sheehan kept the Crimson pride alive with a win over Northeastern. But the entire squad will have a chance for revenge this weekend as the Huskies return with the rest of the area harriers for the Greater Boston Championships, slated for this weekend at the ITT.
You can bet there'll be fireworks across the river as the rivalry hits the banked oval.
Women's Hoop
After a sluggish start which ended in a 3-4 record before vacation, the Crimson women returned to the basketball court fresh from the rest, and the Harvard opposition shuddered as the team took a four-game blitzkrieg into exams, upping their results to a fine 7-4 mark.
The January competition was not up to the level of many of the teams Harvard will face in the months ahead, but the schedule gave the young team a chance to find itself before the Division I heavies return for the February showdowns.
With talented Wendy Carle finding herself after two seasons of intermittent glory, the Crimson attack is shaping up. Carle, the leading scorer and rebounder, has combined with freshman star Elaine Holpuch and always-cool captain Caryn Curry to spark the team to its decisive January wins.
But the true test of the squad's progress will come this month as Harvard faces four stiff tests before the Ivy championships in New Haven, Feb. 9-11.
Harvard, now ranked sixth in New England, faces No. 7 Dartmouth tonight at the IAB. But on the horizon is a crosstown showdown with No. 3 Boston University (Feb. 16 at B.U.), and the Division I tourney, March 2 and 3.
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