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PAGE 22 -- WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY. MARCH 24, 1982 Multiple gold medal-winner Vic Davis of ROW fires out on the opening leg of his 400 IM victory A tired but phased Mike Watt gathers his reserves am" an all-out effort Absolute concen- tration is etched on Al Swanston‘s face as he sets to tackle the 100 lroostyle. Edmuntnn Keyutno wun the women's title with 530:» points, well ahvad "I Point C'lairv, Que with 420.5 RHW, which y,tsttt only Allison Lotwas, Linda Gardiner and Kim Gellatly to the meet mainly in gain "xpvriemr was not a factor as a sixth place finish by {murals in the Mtm freestyle brought the local club tts only yuims in wumen's competition In no small way helping to create the victory for ROW. which in the past two years has zoomed from 33rd to third to first in men's national standing. was the fact they collected eight gold medals, five courtesy of the meet's top swimmer. Victor Davis Mike West, one of the most promising home-grown athletes this city has to offer, eolleeted two more while setting the only two Canadian records clocked at the meet, and HOW also picked up a gold in the final event of the meet, when Davis and West combined with elubmates Al Swanxton and Kevin Auger to capture the 4 x Hit) medle) relav By Rick Campbell Chronicle Sports Editor Said. And done. Overcoming its lilliputian-sized ranks with brilliant and often strategic performances, the Region of Waterloo Swim Club's men's team reached a pinnacle of sorts last week when it captured the title at the Canadian winter national short-course championships at Brant Aquatic Centre - just like ROW coach Cliff Barry claimed it could do. There was no shortage of success stories in ROW ranks as the six-man team. battling others more than double in size. combined tremendous individual efforts with courageous "bonus" performances to accumulate 555» points in the four-day meet, four and a half more than the Iii-member runner-up Hyack Swim Club of New Westminster. B C In mntrasl to ROW, runm-rup Hyack was shut out m the hunt for individual gold. hut built up their totals with a palr of relay gold and man} second and third place finishes CHAMPIONS!!! "We played the swimming version of Billyball.“ laughed Barry, reterrtnp,tothvvxpressioncoinedlast par to "hplain the fundamental Mira-xx of bau-ball'x Oakland A's undcr managvr Billy Martm “Thrqu no doubt m my mind, we won it due to strategy '. Barryball, anyone" In many vase-5‘ especially relays. what appeared to be surprisingly poor ROW performances were actually part of strateqir plays an the pa rt of Harry to saw his swimmers for the events that ultimately, counted most Much of the electricity generated at the fine Brant facility came in anticipation of Davis recording world best times in his breaststroke specialties, Although that didn't erentuate, he did record a world best time this year in the 200 IM and was in command in winning each of the 100 and 200 breast. 200 and 4001M and 200 fly. West rebounded from a mediocre qualifying time to eclipse his own mark in the 100 backstroke, then narrowly outdistanced Cam Henning to set another Canadian record in the 200 back Further valuable points were picked up when West copped the 50m freestyle consolation "We did really well in a few places, better in some than we thought and a few not quite as well as we had hoped for, but of course over-all we're thrilled to be the best." said ROW head coach Cliff Barry, whose reputation grows in leaps and bounds with every major competition his charges excel in. "I don't think there were that many people surprised with our performance especially after (US. International meet) Gainesville (Fla. " I think we were generally regarded as far vorite." Such was not the case on the men's side, however, as brave efforts from Davis. West, Swanston. Paul Hess, Auger and David Swanston, in many cases in non-specialty events. in the long run proved essential to the team's success. in the 100 breast and 200 IM, added a bronze in the I00 free and third in the 100 consolation backstruke, all the while pirkirtg up the Points Barry deemed a must Probably the most heartwarming overall performance for HOW came from Al Swanstun who chased Davis to the wire