Splashy Show

Syracuse University's new million-dollar swimming pool is reputed to be the fastest in the U.S.* Last week swimmers from 53 colleges came to try it out in the National Collegiate Swimming Championships. In a splashy show, the Syracuse pool lived up to its buildup, and Ohio State, headed by its top trio from Hawaii, managed to swamp the opposition (including Yale's defending champions) for the eighth time in twelve years.

Ohio State's three men from Hawaii, Sprinter Dick Cleveland, Distanceman Ford Konno and Backstroker Yoshi Oyakawa, all U.S. Olympians in 1952, did not go to Ohio State by chance. Ohio State's Coach Mike Peppe, who has a sharp eye for talent, started the migration before the war, and last week it paid off handsomely.

Chunky Konno (5 ft. 6 in., 147 Ibs.) started it off by winning his specialty, the 1,500-meter grind, and swam the distance in 18:14.4 to break his own N.C.A.A. mark by 1.1seconds. In the second event, the 50-yd. freestyle, Cleveland touched out the opposition in 0:22.3, just two-tenths of a second off the record; in the third event, Oyakawa won the 200-yd. backstroke. With that kind of 1-2-3 start, Ohio State's Hawaiian hands kept right on going. Konno won the 440-yd., setting another record, placed second in the 220-yd. Cleveland also won the 100-yd., Oyakawa the 100-yd. backstroke. In all, Ohio State's three accounted for 47 of their team's 94 winning points. Runner-up Michigan scored 67, and defending champions from Yale wound up third with 36.

Other migrating swimmers took some of the remaining prizes:

P: Michigan's (and England's) Jack Wardrup not only led Konno home in the 220-yd., but also cut half a second off the world record of 2:05.5 set by Australia's (and Yale's) John Marshall in 1950.

P: Harvard's (and Australia's) Dave Hawkins won both the 100-and 200-yd. breaststroke.

* Thanks to new splash gutters and overflow pipes, which carry off pool-edge turbulence.

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