High and Dry 'til an Ivy Title

Buoyed by the addition of 20 new fresh-men and a large returning veteran contingent, head women's swimming coach VICKI HAYS already has high hopes for the season. When a playful member of the men's swim team tried to throw her into the pool at afternoon workout one day, she evaded his grasp and said, "No one throws me into the pool until my team wins the Ivies....In a unique arrangement that is certain to bolster attendance at women's athletic games, roommates and junior co-captains of respectively field hockey and swimming, MAUREEN FINN and MAUREEN GILDEA have agreed to bring as many members of their teams as possible to the other co-captain's home games....Joining some 6000 women in the Bonne Bell 10 Kilometer run on Columbus Day will be most members of the Princeton and Harvard women's swim teams. The race, which starts on the Boston Common and winds down to MIT and bakc into Boston, is about 6.2 miles, and annually features some of the country's top female road-racers, including local favorite Patti Lyons-Catalano, who grabbed the American record in the contest last year.

***

Speaking of the Bonne Bell, several women's cross-country team members were filmed wearing the Bonne Bell t-shirts and wool caps in a workout several weeks ago. The footage made last night's edition of P.M. Magazine as part of promotion for the race. "We all jumped at the chance to be on television," Eliot House sophomore EVA ANDERSON said, and Kirkland House resident GRACE DeFRIESE commented, "It's probably the only time that I'm ever going to get to see myself run."

***

A conversation with two female plebes, encountered on the way across Anderson Bridge following last Saturday's Harvard-Army football game:

"As a woman," started out the questioner, "what have you found most difficult to adjust to about West Point?" One of the ladies noted the starched collars that all cadets must wear; the other got to the heart of the matter: "I really can't stand the fact that they bus in hundreds of girls from all over the East, but they sure don't bring in any guys. We just get to date other plebes."

***

There is life in Fairfield County; just ask former Harvard hoop personalities TERRY O'CONNOR and MARK HARRIS. Following last season, O'Connor--the Harvard assistant coach--accepted the head coaching job at Fair-field University. Harris--last year's Crimson co-captain with TOM MAN-NIX--signed on as his assistant, and the two are now happily installed in Connecticut. "We're plugging along down here," Harris said, "just plugging along." ....In other basketball news, the Crimsons are slated to face the Irish National Team November 14 at the IAB. Last year in international competition, the hoopsters dumped the Portuguese. The team starts regular practice October 22, although most members of the team have been playing afternoons in the IAB.

***

The women's soccer team almost missed Tuesday night's game against Brown in Providence when its bus suffered an electrical failure in Attleboro--just 15 minutes from the capital at 3:45. After the bus driver had spent a half hour attempting to fix the problem, he and head coach Bob Scalise walked off seeking help. About an hour later--but before Scalise got back--a commercial bus line, the Providence Express, picked up the women.

***

Junior varsity coach Reid "I'm in control here" Whitlock took charge of the varsity and left Scalise a note on the abandoned bus. The booters arrived at Brown at 6:30, followed shortly thereafter by Scalise in a new bus only a half hour late for the scheduled game. The junior varsity did miss its game because of the bus failure, but has rescheduled the match for November 4.

Soccer fans may have recognized a few old women's soccer personalities who dropped in to cheer their old team to victory. Former captain ELLEN HART '80, still running and back in Boston consulting Nike on new products, and SALLY GOLDSBERRY '80, currently studying at the Law School, braved the cold and wet to watch the Crimson dissect Smith, 8-0.

***

Hart's old roommate and former soccer manager MAURA COSTIN '80 showed up at the Springfield game while visiting the Boston area. The former swim team captain now assists former Harvard and Men's Olympic Team swim coach Don Gambril at University of Alabama....During the season, Costin and fellow assistant coaches Jonty Skinner--former men's 100m. freestyle world record holder--and BRIAN GORDON, former administrative assistant in Harvard's Athletic Information Office, lead staggered double session workouts--adding up to a 12-and-a-half-hour work day--Monday through Friday, in addition to recruiting.

***

Along with Gambril, Costin, and Gordon, former assistant men's swim coach Jack Ryan completes Harvard's Crimson transfusion into the Crimson Tide's swim program. Ryan is the new Aquatics Director in Tuscaloosa.