Lesser-Known Stars Shine at Easterns

"I think Harvard's depth is a lot better than they've shown (in the dual meets)," Princeton coach Bill Farley said Wednesday evening when asked for a prediction on the Eastern meet's outcome. "Guys like Jack Gauthier and Geoff Seelen are much better than the times we've seen from them this year. They are going to be key factors."

Farley, who reportedly is under consideration for the coaching job at his alma mater, the University of Michigan, should perhaps consider changing occupations. The man who has guided the Tigers to a 79-21 record and six Eastern Seaboard Championships since taking over in 1971, could probably make a fortune as a seer or a mystic.

Gauthier and Seelen, who had performed creditably but far from brilliantly during Harvard's undefeated dual meet season, were both simply outstanding over the weekend, scoring--between them--79 of the Crimson's 500 individual event points.

Each placed in all three of his individual events--Seelen finished among the top eight three times, Gauthier twice--and both made significant contributions to Harvard relays. Seelen set a Blodgett Pool record for the 100-yd. backstroke (51.56) on his Medley Relay leadoff leg the first evening, while Gauthier swam a very fast 1:40.19 as the third man on the Crimson's victorious 800-yd. freestyle relay and recorded the best split (45.53) on the second-place sprint freestyle relay.

Harvard coach Joe Bernal predicted before the championship began that "the meet might not be decided by each team's stars as much as by the supporting casts." Bernal said Tuesday evening that "the winner is likely to be the team whose second-line swimmers are best able to move up and score points."

Gauthier and Seelen are but two of the sizable group of Harvard swimmers who placed higher than their seeded positions.

Dan Menichella, a sophomore butterflyer, placed ninth in the 100-yd. fly and seventh in the 200, despite not being among the top sixteen in either event going into the meet.

"Dan has a lot of experience in this kind of championship meet from his background at a prep school (Lawrenceville) and AAU swimmer, and consequently knows what he needs to do when he gets up on the starting blocks," Bernal explained yesterday.

Menichella sliced almost two-and-one-half seconds off his lifetime best times in both events.

Campari Knoepffler, Menichella's butterfly cohort, improved his position and his best time in the 200-yd. butterfly (to 1:53.60) and also placed (11th) in the 100.

Freshman distance-man Chris Hancock improved his times in all three of his events, most impressively in the 1650-yd. freestyle, where the Ottawa, Canada, native clipped nearly 45 seconds from his previous best, clocking 16:17 and finishing 12th.

The much-maligned Harvard breaststroking crew of Pat Jakobsen and Tom Royal also contributed its share. Jakobsen failed to place, but he dropped three seconds from his best time; and Royal surprised everyone by making the finals in the 200-yd. breaststroke.

The Crimson backstrokers (the back pack) have long been Harvard's most consistent point-scorers at Easterns. This trend continued when Lee Menichella finished 11th in the 100 backstroke Friday and then made the finals and grabbed seventh Saturday evening in the 200. He was not seeded among the top 16 in either event.

The Hacketts, Coopers, Raikulas, and Coglins score the big points and get most of the headlines at a meet like the Easterns; but the strong performances of Gauthier, Seelen and the others proved decisive in finally bringing the Eastern title to Cambridge.