Pringle Sets Eastern Meet Medley Mark

Harvard's John Pringle took an early lead over Yale swimming stars Dale Kiefer and Ed Townsend and held it all the way to win the 400-yard individual medley in the Eastern Seaboard Intercollegiate Swimming Championships at Princeton's Dillon Pool last the four events as the three-day meet got under way.

In the individual medley, Pringle started slowly in the butterfly but picked up distance steadily in the breast and backstrokes, then held off freestyle challenges by Kiefer and Townsend to win by three yards. His time of 4:28.4 established pool and meet records for the event, new to the Easterns this year, and indicate that the versatile senior may have a chance at the NCAA title later this month.

The other Crimson entries did not qualify for the finals in the face of some of the fastest times in the country. In the 500-yard freestyle. Dick McDonough of Villanova led Yale's Lyn Straw to the finish in 5:02.3, the fastest time in the East this year.

Yale's Steve Clark and Mike Austin swept the 50-yard freestyle in 21.5 for another Eastern mark, and the Bulldog medley relay team touched out Princeton to win in 3:40.7. Austin won that race for the Yalies by making up a huge deficit with a 47.0 freestyle anchor lap.