The Final Shower

Close your eyes for a minute, and relax. Forget about the personality problems which allegedly beset the Harvard swimming establishment. Think instead about the end of the aquawomen's 1978-79 season. Remember the 1-8 finish--not a happy thought at all. But sports columns should be happy; forget about the 1-8 season.

Now let your mind wander back over the recently completed 1979-80 season. Think about the season-opening destruction of Clark University, back in November. This column is getting happier already.

Extra, Extra

The headlines rolled. First: "Aquawomen Torpedo Maine, 65-64"; then: "Aquawomen Swim by Huskies"; and next: "Crimson Aquawomen Torpedo Bruins." Suddenly, the Harvard women's swim team was 7-1, and on top of the world. Its only loss had been a heart-breaker to B.U. early in the season, a loss which the Crimson was to avenge with a victory in the Greater Boston Championships.

This could be a very happy column.

Sure, later in the season, on the way to their eventual 8-4 record, the team lost some tough meets. They were blown out of the water by an awesome Princeton squad, and they lost a close one to Northwestern on the same afternoon. Then came the loss to Yale, a painful experience in any sport.

And the Ivy Championships that followed, held on the scenic Princeton campus, were at best bittersweet. The aquawomen finished third--their best finish ever. Although they lost to Brown, a team which they had soundly defeated earlier in the season, the Crimson whipped Yale, one to which they had come up a little short.

On the Sunday of that weekend, however, Stephanie Walsh announced that she would not be back. To hide their shock and disappointment, the team sang drunken, dirty songs all the way back. But then, that's a story that doesn't belong on the sports page.

In the end, though, all this talk about team performance is of little value. Swimming is, after all, an individual sport, and individual performances are what really count. And the Crimson had no shortage of outstanding individuals to make up a really outstanding individuals to make up a really outstanding squad.

Stormin' Norma Barton comes to mind first. She won practically every butterfly event she entered, and capped her season with a three-victory performance at the Ivy Championships, winning the 50-, 100-, and 200-yd. fly. And she qualified for Nationals, where she'll compete this month in Las Vegas.

Kathleen McCloskey ably supported Barton in the butterfly events. McCloskey made her trip to Easterns--one of only six Crimson aquawomen who did--worthwhile by finishing second and qualifying for the Nationals in the 200 fly. Most of the butterfly events throughout the season were not a question of the Crimson swimmers against their opponents, but of Barton vs. McCloskey.

The performance of Maureen Gildea was equally impressive--if not as flashy. Maybe the length and pace of her specialty, the 1650 freestyle, had something to do with that. She plowed through the water on her way to an inevitable triumph in either the 1650 or the 500 free. The 200 was just too short when you turn in 1:01 split after 1:01 split.

When you think back over the season, don't forget about Janie Smith, a swimmer who lived up to Stephanie Walsh's characterization of "sprint everything." The fifty free, 100 free, 100 IM, even the 200 free, she swam everything, and swam it well. The highlight of her season was definitely her brilliant victory in the Ivies 100 IM, in which she out-dueled Princeton's Ann Habernigg.

And don't forget the diving corps of Pam Stone and Adriana Holy, who were never given enough press, but who always performed brilliantlv.

There just isn't enough space to talk about the rest of the team. Terri Frick, Kathy Davis, Davis Wynne, and even the much-maligned breaststrokers. Even, in fact, the coach who regrettably won't be back.