Karl Michael's swimming team finished in fine form, winning three of its last four meets. This enabled the splashers to end the season with a record of five wins and six losses. In their final contests, Penn was beaten 71-24, Columbia 80-15, and Cornell 63-32. The one loss was a close 49-46 defeat at the hands of Navy.
The Cornell meet on March 9 marked the last dual meet to be held in Spaulding Pool. Come next winter, the Indians will move into a new pool in the east wing of Alumni Gymnasium.
Before closing the Spaulding Pool record book, however, three more marks were added. The 400-yard medley relay team set a new time of 3:50.8, while Doc Davis, a double winner, took the 200-yard freestyle in 1:50.0 and the 500-yard freestyle in 5:23.3.
The 5-6 record marked the first time that Karl Michael's swimmers have finished with a losing record since he took over as coach 24 years ago. This is an outstanding achievement of which all alumni should be proud.
The track team lost a heartbreaker to Brown 57-52 and was walloped by Army 82-22. Its final record stood at two wins against six losses.
The Brown meet might well have gone the other way, but for the loss of one key man, Gerry Ashworth. The Indians' captain was sidelined by a slight muscle pull in his leg. Up to that time, Ashworth was undefeated in dual meet competition in the sprints. It. should be added that Brown brought to Hanover its best team in recent years.
In the Heptagonals the Indians were seventh in the ten-team field with 11½ points. Pete Wells, who has been improving steadily all winter, ran his best twomile race of the season. He led at the mile and three-quarter mark, and finished a strong second to Army's Bill Straub.
In the 600-yard run, Tom Holzel was edged by Wendell Mottley of Yale. A consistent winner this year, Holzel still managed to break the Dartmouth record for the 600, even though he finished second. His time was 1:11.5.
In other Heptagonal events, Bob Cahners was fifth in the weight throw, Fred Bates tied for fifth in the pole vault, and the mile relay team was fourth. Ashworth was still unable to compete because of a pulled muscle.
The wrestling team was the only team which posted a winning season. It lost only one match, won five, and tied two. In the New England Intercollegiates, Coach Whitey Burnham's matmen were fifth.
Two Green wrestlers made it all the way to the finals of their respective weight divisions before losing: Andy Alland at 123 and Dennis Eberl at 137. Ivars Bembris finished fourth at 147 pounds.
Wrestling should continue to be on the upswing as witnessed by the fact that the '66 matmen had a respectable 5-1 record, the best among freshman teams.
The squash team lost its final two matches and completed the season standing 5-6 for the winter. Army was the winner 8-1 and Princeton was on top 7-2. The team's number one player, Hop Potter, never returned to action following an ankle injury early in February.