Crimson Whips Princeton, Finishes in 16th Place

"What happened to Harvard?" everyone wanted to know when it was over. The meet was at home. Harvard had distinguished itself during the season with some exceptional times. Everything seemed set for a Harvard entrance onto the national swimming scene. Yet the Crimson finished a disappointing 16th. What happened?

On one hand, Harvard established itself as the king of Eastern swimming by outscoring arch-rival Princeton, 30-18, in what amounted to the rubber match of their season series. Bobby Hackett led the Crimson with a fifth place finish in the 500 freestyle the first evening, followed by a seventh place swim in the 200 freestyle and a gutsy third place 1650 finish on the second and third nights, respectively. The only other Crimson point was scored by Larry Countryman in the marathon 1650.

Meanwhile, the Tigers scored points in the two butterflies, the 800 freestyle relay, and the 200 freestyle. Dartmouth and Columbia were the only other Ivies to place, with Todd Taylor finishing 11th in the 200 freestyle and Tony Corbisiero coming through with a surprising fifth in the 1650.

On the other hand, one simply cannot deny that the Harvard swimmers had far greater potential for proving themselves than they showed. In fact, a scenario might have unfolded in which the aquamen finished in a strong twelfth place. Very few lifetime best performances were displayed by the Crimson squad in a meet that is known for such occurrences.

Certainly the Harvard team is a young one, and does not have much experience in such a high-pressured meet environment.

And illness struck one of Harvard's key performers, David Lundberg, the week before the championships. But the most significant reason for Harvard's relatively poor showing has to be that the Crimson chose to shave down earlier in the season to whip Indiana in their highly acclaimed dual-meet battle. The psychological effect of a shave-down is rarely effective more than once in a given season, and to expect lifetime best performances in the weeks following such a shave is simply not a reasonable presumption.

Everyone realized that shaving down for Indiana might lead to more disappointing results later in the season. But, like cramming for three finals in a four-night stretch, everyone must determine priorities.

Harvard's chief priority was to beat Indiana in February. Hence, in many ways, the Crimson's priorities were set at that time.

As Crimson mentor Joe Bernal stated yesterday, "We needed to shave to beat Indiana, and I have no regrets about that decision." Perhaps Bernal overestimated Harvard's ability to rebound from this first shave, but that was a gamble, perhaps well-taken. And as any confirmed blackjack player will tell you, the high-risk, well-planned strategy is the only one to take.