W. Swimming Blows By Cornell

According to Harvard women's swimming coach Maura Costin Scalise, last night's meet against Cornell at Blodgett Pool was merely a warm-up for the Eastern Championships to be held at Blodgett February 23-25. Harvard  178 Cornell  119

But after last night. some teams might consider just conceding defeat to the Crimson.

Harvard thoroughly shredded the women from Cornell, finishing first in all but two heats to take its final regular-season home meet of the season, 178-119.

"It was a fun meet," Costin Scalise said, "It felt good getting ready for Easterns."

Last night was fun from the getgo, from Harvard's perspective.

In the 400-yard individual medley, junior Greta Steffenson swam an incredibly close race against Cornell freshman Kristin Arioli. Steffenson held on to win the race--a time of 4:40.28--with Arioli finishing just a whisker behind, in a time of 4:40.49.

The team got support from its younger members as well. In the 100-yard backstroke, sophomore Kathryn Liu and freshman Stephanie Lawrence finished first and second, respectively.

Co-captain Deborah Kory may have been the most dominant swimmer of the squad last night.

By the middle of the 100-yard breaststroke, Kory had a half-pool-length lead on the nearest swimmer, winning the race in a time of 1:06.34.

Extending the event by 100 yards didn't seem to affect Kory much. In the 200-yard breaststroke, Kory gained a quick lead and posted a 2:25.70. The second-place Cornell finisher came home a full four seconds later.

Kory was impressed with the team's performance.

"We are on a roll," Kory said.

"Since Princeton last week, we feel strong and confident in the water."

Kory indicated she still had some work to do before Easterns.

"I need to tighten up my turns and mentally prepare," she said.

But Kory also said the team was well on its way toward being ready for Easterns.

"We are getting progressively ready," she said. "We're definitely on track."

Helping the women along were the men's swimmers--who filled the building with noise during the closing heats--and Coach Scalise's son, who led the women swimmers in a rousing cheering session before the start of the final heats.

The confidence generated by the convincing win will be vital to the Crimson over the remainder of the season.

"I believe we will win Easterns," Kory said. "Make sure you put that in."

We did, Deborah.