'Cliffe Swimmers Win Regional Honors

The Radcliffe swim team sailed into regional prominence at last Saturday's New England Regionals held at the University of Maine. The 'Cliffe placed a strong third, behind the nationally-ranked Springfield and Southern Connecticut squads.

The ten 'Cliffe swimmers registered seven scoring performances -- including a New England championship -- against the largest pool of contenders ever to attend the annual contest.

Sophomore diver Nancy Sato, whose performances have shown increasing expertise throughout the season, gave the 'Cliffe an early moment of glory with her first place in the one-meter dive. Sato's dives received 193.9 points from the judges to break last year's New England record. She later took third in the three-meter competition.

Increased Strength

Other 'Cliffe performers showed increased strength and should become national threats in upcoming regional and national contests. Juniors Connie Cervilla and RoAnn Costin established themselves Saturday as national contenders for honors in the butterfly and freestyle events.

Costin skimmed a full second off her 200-yd. free -- already a team record -- for a third place time of 2:06.65 in that event. She also duplicated her season record of 58.1 in the 100-yd. free which won her the number two spot in New England.

Cervilla, the team captain, grabbed a second place in the 50-yd. butterfly and took a strong fourth in the 100-yd. competition. Other team scoring came from the 400-yd. freestyle relay team (Julie Bradley, Sato, Cervilla and Costin) and the 200-yd. medley (Laura Lennihan, Sato, Costin and Cervilla).

Saturday's performance makes Radcliffe a definite factor in next month's Nationals and Easterns. Since the New Englands, Costin, Cervilla and the relay teams have reduced their times significantly. "As long as the times are being lowered, that's the most exciting thing," Coach Alice McCabe said yesterday.

The quality of competition in the "championship leg" of Radcliffe's season far surpasses that which the 'Cliffe faced in its regular season Ivy League contests. The 'Cliffe and Yale were the only Ivy squads which placed among the top five teams on Saturday.

Undefeated throughout its regular season, the 'Cliffe will travel to Westchester, Penn. for the Easterns on March 3. Two weeks later, Radcliffe will wind up the strongest season of its history at the NCAA Nationals in Moscow, Idaho.