Aquawomen Cruise Past Yale

Harvard, Yale. Yale, Harvard. Football, ice hockey, maybe even basketball come to mind when this great rivalry is mentioned.

But women's swimming? Not usually. And with good reason.

The Harvard-Yale women's swim meet Saturday at Blodgett Pool could barely be called a meet, much less a rivalry. Harvard captured every event, cruising to a 103-36 blowout of the Elis in front of a handful of spectators.

"I told [the Harvard swimmers] to set their own goals and not worry about who they're against," Crimson Coach Maura Costin-Scalise said.

Apparently, they didn't. Harvard jumped out to a quick lead and never looked back.

"Yale really isn't that much of a rival for us" freshman sprinter Ruthie Tanenbaum said. "Princeton is probably our biggest rival. They're a lot tougher."

The Crimson, which came into the meet with a 3-0 overall record (1-0 Ivy League), is the 1988 Ivy League and Eastern Conference Champion and a favorite to repeat in 1989.

Despite the lengthy gaps between the swimmers in crimson and those in blue, the meet was not without its high points. Juniors Mia Costello and Sheila Findley just missed NCAA qualifying times in the 200 breaststroke and the 200 backstroke, respectively, and freshman Stacie Duncan smashed the Harvard record in the 1000 freestyle by almost six seconds with a time of 10:09.70.

Only last week Duncan swam a 16:53.54 to break the Harvard record for the 1650 freestyle in the Harvard Invitational. Not too shabby for a freshman.

"I wasn't expecting to swim that fast so soon." Duncan said.

But her coach and teammates weren't so surprised.

"When I recruited her, I knew she'd be good." Costin-Scalise said. "She's a real talent. She'll swim even faster because she trains so hard. Freshmen don't always adjust that well but she's done really well."

Senior Co-Captain Linda Suhs seconds that emotion. "Stacie is one of our hardest workers," Suhs said. "Her hard work really motivates the other girls."

Duncan was recruited to add depth to the distance team and by all accounts she has succeeded. According to Costin-Scalise, she's taken the pressure off the other women who were swimming distance events so they can concentrate on their own events.

"She always volunteers to do the harder events like the 400 individual medley," Tanenbaum said. Duncan captured that event with a time of 4:31.93 Saturday.

With the level of intensity increasing in daily practices, the aquawomen are working harder. In the coming weeks the core strength of the team will come from senior Co-Captains Suhs, Karen Schneider and Janice Sweetser, and freshmen record-setters Duncan, Anne Koerckel (200 individual medley) and Courtney Chubb (100 butterfly).

Harvard's next home meet is on Saturday, January 7, when the Crimson faces Dartmouth at noon.