Quakers Go 'Glug-Glug-Glug' in Blodgett

After dropping its last two contests in the final event, the 400-yd. freestyle relay, the Harvard men's swimming team knew what it needed for victory Saturday against Penn.

No relay.

So the Crimson wrapped this meet up early, winning four of the first five events and gliding to a 63-25 victory in front of 200 spectators at Blodgett Pool. By the time the infamous relay race was on tap, neither team bothered to enter any participants.

The contest resembled a time-trial more than a dual meet, with the only real suspense of the afternoon being which swimmers would qualify in which events for the Eastern Championships, held at Blodgett on March 6-8.

Still, it was a meet that Harvard needed to win to gain confidence going into Easterns.

Co-Captain Tim Ford felt that the team accomplished a great deal against the Quakers. "Our goals for this meet were to get back on the winning track following two tough losses, to qualify more people for the Eastern meet and to work on other things such as improving team support," Ford said.

The Crimson won eight of 11 events on the day, the only losses coming in the two diving events, in which Harvard entered no one, and in the 500 freestyle, in which all of its swimmers swam with exhibition status only.

In fact, Crimson swimmers finished one-two in seven of the eight wins, the only exception being the 400 medley relay, in which Harvard pulled off a one-three finish.

Co-Captain Peter Egan paced the aquamen by posting victories in two events. Egan swam to wins in both the 200 freestyle and the 200 butterfly, keying the early elimination of the Quakers.

Freshmen Bob Morrison and Rob Perkins both earned their first victories of their collegiate careers Saturday. Morrison finished first in the 100 freestyle, while Perkins won the 200 backstroke and swam the backstroke leg of the triumphant 400 medley relay team.

Other Harvard victories on the afternoon came from Bill Cleveland, Chris Gould and Lars Reierson. Cleveland won the 200 individual medley and qualified for Easterns with a time of 1:58.88, one-hundreth of a second below the qualifying standard.

Gould gained first place in the 50 freestyle with a time of 21.64, edging out teammates Dave Berkoff and Morrison, who tied for second. Reierson swam to triumph in the 200 breaststroke, finishing in 2:12.33 to close out the Crimson scoring barrage.

Before the Eastern Championships, however, the Crimson must journey to New Haven, Conn. to take on arch-rival Yale next Saturday. And after last week's road mishap at Cornell, it is especially important for Harvard to have a good meet on enemy turf.

"We realize that we cannot afford any more lapses, especially at Yale where it undoubtedly will be noisy," said Ford. "Yale will make this meet the highlight of their season, so we will have to be ready."

Considering the way things have been going lately, the Crimson might like the road trip a little better if it has things all wrapped up before the last relay.