Aquamen Destroy Dartmouth, Brown

Imagine you were a member of the Chicago Bears before their game against the San Francisco 49ers Saturday.

You probably realized you didn't have much of a chance to win the game, but you at least wanted to keep the thing close.

And then you lost, 44-15.

Now imagine you are a member of the Dartmouth and Brown swimming teams--both of which have not fared very well in the past and are undermanned--and you're about to face Harvard, which has topped two top-10 squads this season.

You'd probably find that the Bears had it easier.

In the 29 total events in the two meets, the Crimson won 28, as it posted a 227-72 victory over Dartmouth Friday at Blodgett Pool and whipped Brown, 188-45, Saturday in Providence, R.I.

"It was pretty lopsided," senior Jeff Marks said. "Brown and Dartmouth are not very deep teams."

The biggest test facing Harvard was not to slack off during the races. After all, it is hard to keep your focus when there is nobody wearing an opposing swimming cap anywhere near you. Then again, there was a simple solution.

"We started racing one another," Marks said. "You want to emphasize things in your own race to make sure you are doing all the things right."

To show how much the Crimson dominated, Harvard finished 1-2 in 11 of the 16 events against Dartmouth and 1-2-3 in five events, while it place 1-2 in nine of 13 events against Brown, including two 1-2-3-4 finishes.

Sophomore Dave Alpert led the Crimson in the long-distance freestyle events against the Big Green, taking the 500 and the 1000. Senior Rich Beukema won both diving events.

And in what was perhaps the most interesting aspect of the meet against Dartmouth, freshman Ben Odell survived the "Ironman"--a Harvard tradition where one swimmer competes every race. That includes all the individual events and the medleys, where Odell swam all four legs of each, getting in and out of the pool for each leg.

"That was one of the greatest experiences of my life," Odell said. "I was hurting the whole first part, but midway through I didn't really feel any more pain."

"He looked pretty red [at the end]," Marks said. "But he was pretty solid all the way through."

Although there was no Ironman against Brown, Harvard was all business once again and left no doubt about who was the better team, finishing first in every single event.

Freshman Brian Younger paced the Crimson with three victories--the 400 and the 800 freestyle and the 400 individual medley. Beukema again took both the one-meter and three-meter diving events.

"I think to a large degree we looked pretty sharp in the water," Marks said. "The little things--starts, turns--looked very good."

Next up for the Crimson is a home meet against Navy next Saturday at noon, another team that shouldn't give Harvard much trouble.

"We're challenging ourselves to swim fast," Odell said. "Our goal is to finish in the top 20 in the nation." Dartmouth  72 Harvard  227 Harvard  188 Brown  45