Aquamen Place 16th

The Harvard men's swimming team might have expected a little more from itself this weekend at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships at Indianapolis, Ind.

But it made believers out of everyone else.

The Crimson finished the three-day competition with a total of 54 points and a 16th-place finish, and proved to the nation's swimming elite that it will be around for awhile.

In doing so, Harvard moved up two spots from last year's 18th place showing and finished one spot ahead of archrival Princeton.

The Crimson also had almost twice last year's number of swimmers scoring points, with seven aquamen contributing compared to last season's four. And considering that one of the four was diving standout Dan Watson--who placed in the top three on both boards--the improvement is even more apparent.

But perhaps the best indication of the Crimson rise was the age of the eight representatives in Indiana. Only one, Co-Captain Peter Egan, has a graduation date before June of 1988.

And all of this from a team that didn't swim up to its capability?

"When an athlete has a goal but falls short, he has to look at the things that he did accomplish instead," said Harvard Head Coach Joe Bernal. "We came a long way this year in our development, and we only are going to get better."

According to Egan, "We did well this weekend, but we didn't meet the high expectations that we had going into the meet. On the other hand, it gave some of the younger swimmers a chance to gain some valuable experience in high-quality competition."

While some Crimson times were slightly slower than expected, they were still good enough to place Harvard swimmers in the top places.

Sophomore Dave Berkoff had the highest finish for the aquamen, placing third in the 100-yard backstroke. His time of 48.83 was only slightly above the school record of 48.76, and only .16 away from the winning time in the event.

Berkoff also finished ninth in the 200 backstroke and swam the backstroke leg of the 400 medley relay team that finished 11th. The other three swimmers in the relay were Egan, Scott Hoy and Keith Kaplan.

Harvard also scored points in the 800 free relay, when the team of Egan, John Ritch, John Pearson and Chris Smith placed 16th nationally.

Egan closed out his Harvard swimming career in fine form, earning a strong seventh-place finish in the 200 butterfly. His time of 1:46.69 was a personal best, and left him in high spirits.

"I'm definitely happy the way I closed out my college career," Egan said, adding that "this was the best trip of the three that I've made to nationals, because it was the first time that we really had a team representing Harvard."

Egan also emphasized the change in the way other schools perceived the Crimson: "Whereas before, a Harvard swimmer in the final heat would be considered just a peculiar, unusual case, that view has now been eliminated. Now that we are placing more and more people in different events, it has made us worthy of national attention."

Stanford won the meet and the NCAA Men's Division 1 Championship with a score of 404 points. UC-Berkeley finished second with 335, while a 325-point total earned Texas the third-place spot.

In fact, the enthusiasm of the small Harvard squad earned it support by many fans in Indianapolis--especially a large number of Stanford rooters, who encouraged the Crimson in many races.

And Bernal thinks that the Ivy Leaguers deserve the accolades. "This weekend we proved that our league is as good as any," Bernal said. "Harvard was the top team nationally that doesn't give scholarships, and to finish as high as we did is a good showing of this team's talent and motivation."

So as the 1986 season moves to a close, it leaves the Harvard men's team with a little bit of joy and a little bit of dissapointment.

And a whole lot of optimism.