Aquamen Sink Opponents at Easterns

HANOVER, N.H.--On Saturday night, while nearing the end of their full three days of dominance at the Eastern Seaboard Swimming Championships, and, with two events left on the schedule, the Harvard aquamen obliterated their own record--set last year with 506 points--and then charged on to new heights with a wimmining accumulation of 583. The victory was Harvard's third in a row.

Among the other 22 squads left crying in the waves. Princeton amassed 256 points for second place, followed by Dartmouth with 220.5 and Yale with 207.

In the final heat of the 1650-yd. freestyle--Crimson All-Americans Bobby Hackett and Larry "Juan" Countryman joined Columbia's Tony Corbisiero and Yale's Mark Loftis in a fight against the clock. Corbisiero, who slipped past the still unshaven Hackett, earned the win, by less than a tenth of a second, but all four of the top finishers reached the wall under the NCAA qualifying time of 15:31.59. Loftis nabbed third, just ahead of Countryman.

On the basis of his 15:51.29 in the early afternoon, Harvard frosh Courtney Roberts lifted himself into sixth place without the benefit of having been in the fastest heat, which opened the final evening of competition.

Neck to neck with the leaders in the 100-yd. freestyle, Harvard's veteran sprint ace Jack Gauthier battled to a hard-earned fifth place finish even after his goggles slipped and lodged around his mouth during the second half of the race. Teammate Mike Miao salvaged the Crimson cause with a third behind Navy's double victor Joe Murphy and Princeton's Howard Nelson.

Pacing the East's finest "back pack," freshman Dave Phillips topped his third place finish in Friday night's 200-yd. race with a gold medal showing in the shorter 100-yd. event. Reaching the wall right behind him, teammates Julian Bott and Geoff Seelen nailed down the next two slots for the 1-2-3 finish.

"It's a tremondous honor to be able to contribute to the team victory. I'm so pleased that we swept the top three places. Julian and Geoff deserve as much credit as I do, they drove me to the win," Phillips said yesterday.

Dean Putterman, who registered a win in the 100-yd. breaststroke on Friday night, added a bronze medal to his collection with a third in the 200-yd. event. Putterman's performance is even more remarkable considering that less than two weeks ago he was hospitalized with a severe case of the flu. Bulldog breaststrokers Tom Mintz and John Rogers, who will represent Yale in the NCAA's took first and second.

Ted Chappell sped past Cornell challenger Craig Christie to pick up his third win of the weekend and high point honors. With his 1:49.65, Chappell narrowly missed qualifying for NCAAs in a third individual event.

High point diving honors went to Harvard's Jeff Mule. With Columbia's Paul Opperman, a summer training partner of Mule's, pulling close, the Crimson diver completed the competition with a backward one and a half somersault with a two and a half twist. This maneuver earned a roar from the crowd and averaged a score of 7.5 from the judges, putting the three meter title in the bag.

Closing out Harvard's showcase weekend, the 400-yd. free relay team of Gauthier, Miao, Chappell and Hackett added the final points with a comfortable 3:03.94 win in the finale.

"The team's performance is the culmination of a tremendous amount of hardwork. The victory and total point record demonstrate that with each year we are cultivating our potential to a greater extent," coach Joe Bernal said yesterday.