A virtual rainbow of banners, sweats, and swimsuits invaded Blodgett Pool yesterday as the Eastern Women's Swimming League Swimming and Diving Championships got underway.

Trials were held the first day of the three-day event to determine the seedings for the championship and consolation finals of the swimming events, which begin this afternoon.

Twenty-six teams, including all eight Ivy schools, are participating in the meet, which attracted the top women swimmers in the East.

Despite the stiff competition, Harvard Coach Maura Costin is optimistic about the Crimson's chances this weekend.

"We're swimming well," Costin said. "We're seeded in several events and we're hoping to do very well in them."

Eight participants compete in each final. Yesterday's trials determined the top 16 seeds swim in the championship final, while the next eight are seeded in the consolation.

Harvard gained today's championship rounds in three swimming events.

the Crimson is seeded seventh in the 200-yard medley relay with a qualifying time of 1:50.98.

In individual events, Karen Dehmel is seeded sixth in the 200-yard individual medley, qualifying with a time of 2:09.57, while Marie Ciepella placed eighth in the 200-yard backstroke, finishing in 2:10.52.

Five Harvard swimmers qualified for consolation finals.

Monica Lee and Dehmel are the first and second seeds in the consolation of the 100-yard butterfly Lee was edged out of the championship race by Penn State's Lisa Johnson by only .02 seconds.

Elaine Sang is seeded fourth in the 200-yard backstroke consolation, while Lisa Schauweeker and Molly Clark are fifth and eighth, respectively, in the 200-yard individual medley consolation.

Brown, Penn State and the University of West Virginia were cited by Costin as the top teams in the meet.

Twenty-seven teams were scheduled to compete in the EWSI championships, but Boston University bowed out due to the epidemic of measles sweeping that campus.