Winthrop Swimmers Win; Straus Cup Race Tightens

Winthop's 200-yd freestyle relay team edged Eliot for second place in the final event of last week's intramural swimming meet and took the meet championship from Eliot by a two-point margin.

The Winthrop victory narrowed Eliot's fall Straus point lead to just 25 points.

Depth was key to the Winthrop victory, for Winthrop did not win a single event and took only two second places and two thirds. Elito, on the other hand, won four races and took one second and one third.

This was the first year that the swimming competition was limited to just one tournament. In the past each House has participated in four triangular meets.

"We swam well but they had better participation," Eliot athletic secretary John Powers said. "Points were given for both championship and consolation races. Since there were very few events with more than 12 entries, anybody who could dog-paddle to the end of the pool took a point."

The individual standout of the meet was Quiney's Howie Burns, who won the 100-yd individual medley and the 100-yd, freestyle and finished second in the 50-yd, fly.

Eliot had two double winners. Chris Fleteher and Rich Longabaugh won the 50-yd, backstroke and 50-yd, freestyle, respectively, and repeated their performances on Eliot's 200-yd, medley team.

Most athletic secretaries were dissatisfied with the new swimming format because it limited student participation to a single night. "One of our guys had to split for choir practice and that cost us six or eight points, " Powers said.

Swimming Results

Winthrop 196

Eliot 194

Lowell 122

Dunster 98

Kirkland 67

Quiney 49

Leverett 27