It's hard to pinpoint just when it happened. Some will say it came as early as November, when Harvard racked up more points than it had in any of the previous 98 editions of The Game to trample Yale, 45-7. Others will contend that it didn't happen until May, when Crimson crews controlled the Eastern Sprints and Harvard hardballers brought home the University's 12th Ivy League championship of the year.

But everyone agrees that sometime between September and June, the 1982-83 season became the best in the 131-year history of Harvard inter-collegiate athletics.

"We haven't had as many great teams in one year before," says Eric Cutler '40, who has been associated with Harvard sports since his days in Cambridge as an All-American swimmer, the past 18 in the capacity of assistant athletic director.

No school has ever won as many Ivy crowns, with Princeton's eight in 1976-77 the closest runner-up to Harvard's dozen this year. The Crimson men claimed nine league crowns, more than all of the other Ivy schools combined. Harvard's women's teams, which the previous year captured an all-time high four titles, took three last year and came close to a few others.

But 1982-83 can't be measured with the narrow limits of Ivy competition. What distinguished so many of last year's teams from great ones of the past was their performance in post-season and non-league contests. Some of the more remarkable feats:

* The men's hockey team came within a game of winning the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship. Harvard's 5-3 NCAA semifinal triumph over Minnesota capped a post-season in which the icemen downed RPI, New Hampshire and Providence to win the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championship, then fought off Michigan State to earn a berth in the NCAA Final Four. It was the first time Harvard ever made it to the final round. Senior defenseman Mark Fusco earned the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, given annually to the nation's best college hockey player.

* The men's squash team won three national championships--the U.S. Squash Racquets Association Championship, the nine-man dual match title and the National Intercollegiate Squash Racquets Association Championship. Freshman Kenton Jernigan defeated teammate David Boyum in the final rounds of both tournament championships, thus establishing himself as the finest amateur squash player in the country.

* The men's heavyweight crew nipped Brown in the Eastern Sprints and Washington for the national championships.

* The women's cross country team placed fourth at the NCAA championship meet, its highest finish ever.

* The football team tied Dartmouth and Penn for its first Ivy championship since 1975 and its fifth in the 28 years of league gridiron action.

* The men's track team took its first indoor Heptagonal title in 13 years, then moved outdoors for its first spring Heptagonal title in just as long. Senior Adam Dixon captured first place in the 1500-meter run at the IC4A meet.

* The best Crimson baseball team since 1974 lost only three Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League showdowns en route to its 12th league pennant.

* The men's swimming team extended its winning streak to 32 meets, currently the longest streak in NCAA Division I swimming. The swimmers added first-place finishes in the Greater Boston Championships and the Eastern Seaboards to their 12-0 dual-meet record.

*The men's tennis team enjoyed a 9-0 Eastern League season and captured the New England Championship.

*The women's tennis team won its first Ivy crown.