Aquawomen Top Maine for Third Win

The Harvard women's swim team made it three in a row on Saturday, defeating the University of Maine 89-60 in a meet marred by controversy.

Swimming without co-captains. Maureen Gildea and Pam Stone, the Crimson fell behind Maine 20-14 after the first four events despite Debbie Zimic's first-place finish in the 1000-yard freestyle (11:06.3), and Shelby Calvert's first-place finish in the 200-yd. freestyle (1:59.2). Zimic came in a full ten seconds ahead of the second-place finisher even though she had anchored the 400-yd. medley relay team in the previous race.

The controversy arose in the fifth event--the 50-yd. backstroke--when freshman Mary Rentoumis finished second behind teammate Diane Smith (29.7) according to one timekeeper but finished fourth according to the automatic time-keeping system. The referee decided to split the second and third-place points equally between the two teams even though "Mary clearly came in second," coach Vicki Hays said yesterday.

The decision momentarily cost Harvard the lead, but Crimson spirits did not sag according to Smith, who said, "Even though we were losing, we knew that our strength was coming up towards the end of the meet."

The aquawomen, who have come from behind to beat B.C. and B.U. this year, outscored Maine 38-26 over the next six events to take a seven-point lead. Leading the way were Susan Kim, who took first in the 50-yd. breaststroke (33.3), Cary Mazzone, who won the 200-yd. butterfly (2:12.1), and divers Jennifer Goldberg and Adriana Holy, who finished first and second respectively in the 1 meter and 3 meter contests. Both Goldberg and Holy have qualified for the NCAA championships in both diving events.

With just two races remaining in the meet, and with Harvard leading by an insurmountable 16 points, the referee changed his decision regarding the disputed 50-yd. backstroke and decided to award Maine with both second-and third-place points. Though the Crimson had secured the win, Hays objected to the decision, "as a matter of principle," she said yesterday, adding that only after a flasco like this can she truly appreciate Harvard's sophisticated automatic timing system.

The meet featured two outstanding performances; one by Harvard's Mazzone whose winning time of 4:44.0 in the 400-yd. individual medley broke ex-Crimson star Kathy Davis' record, and the other by Maine's Cary Bryden, who won the 50-yd. freestyle (25.1) in record-breaking time.

The team does not compete again until January 8th, when they square off against Dartmouth in Hanover, but they will travel to sunny California over Christmas break with the men's swim team to train for a week. Hays, who feels this year's team is decidedly stronger than last year's, said the squad will work on improving technique and endurance.