When he was eight years old, Peter Egan's mother told him that it was time he got out of the house and got involved in something.

"It was between hockey and swimming," remembers began

His decision wasn't a hard one though, after a classmate told him that, to play hockey, you had to get up at five-thirty on Saturday mornings.

Swimming the butterfly back and forth across Blodgett Pool as the sun rises all winter makes Egan laugh at the irony of the decision he made over 10 years ago.

"If I had known how many Saturday mornings I'd be up early, I might have never chosen swimming."

For eight-year-old Egan, swimming was just a fun way to spend his afternoons.

"It just started out as three times a week," he says. "You go in for an hour, you have a nice time, you meet some people, and it was all right--and then, I got good."

Get good he did. By age 10, Egan was traveling across the country from his home in Kansas City to swim against high-caliber competition.

"I never thought of my parents as pushing me," he says. "Maybe people outside the family might have seen it that way, but my parents were always willing to take me to workouts or meets."

Egan's parents were always at this side--flying with him to meets as far off as California and Ohio.

Despite the excellence Egan achieved as a youngster, he never was bothered by the increasing pressure surrounding his performances.

"I loved going to meets like that," he recalls. "When you're 10, you don't sit down and think, gee this is a big meet... you just get excited about it and go fast---it was great."

As he grew older-and faster began found the tensions of swimming grew.

A standout at Pembroke Country Day School in Kansas City, Egan went to the Missouri state high school meet as a favorite in the butterfly.

"I told everybody I was going to win," he recollects. "I had some friends who had driven all the way to see me and they expected me to win--but when I got up on the blocks, I just felt so pressurized."

Egan lost that face and his first real confrontation with pressure, but he has since learned to funnel the tension to improve his swimming.

Harvard teammate Jim Kornish remarked on the demands Egan puts on himself. "Sure he puts pressure on himself, but that's just his way.

Since he has been in college, Egan has learned to cope with the tension of competitive swimming. While he admits that the pressure hangs over his heads round the clock for up to several weeks before big meets, he has learned to conquer it by the time he has to step up on the starting block.

"He comes through with the great performance when we need it," said Co-Captain Brian Grottkau.

Egan, a junior, has already turned in quite a few stellar showings.

When the 200-meter butterfly is mentioned, so is the name Peter Egan. Egan, a two-time defending Eastern champion, holds the Harvard record and the Eastern record with a time of 1:47.63.

Egan finished ninth in the 1984 Olympic trials in the 200, but was dissatisfied with his performance. He is widely considered a strong contender for the 1988 United State squad

One month ago, Regan was selected to an American national team which was to swim against the West Germans.

Highest Honors

"It was a great honor," Egan says.

However, this high point in Egan's career was tamted by a scheduling conflict. A decision to join the team travelling to Germany meant Egan would miss a chance to compete in Harvard's most important dual meet of the season, against Princeton.

Nonetheless, he chose Germany.

"I felt I would be changing myself if I didn't go," said Egan.

Harvard Men's Swimming Coach Joe Bernal didn't agree with bgan's decision, but once it was made Bernal accepted it.

"After the decision was made, he didn't try to make me change my mind," said Egan

Egan called from Germany to find out how his teammates had done and received the disheattening news of a 60-53 Tiger victory.

"One of the guys told me that he had problems with it." Said Egan, "It hutts me it someone thinks I abandoned the team."

Many of Egan's Fellow swimmers stand behind his pursuance of what is, for any athlete, a lite long dream.

"Pete had a chance to represent the United States in international competition. It I was in his position, I would have done the same thing said junior Lats Reterson.

Egan is a champion, and champions are made through hard work. He has spent his last two summers hundreds of miles from his home in Kansas City, training under Bernal Cambridge.

Egan works out with the team twice a day beginning with an icy winter walk across the Charles to Blodgett Pool for a 6:30 workout.

"He helps out not so much with leadership, but with his example and dedication." says Kornish.

Year-round training, swimming laps while most other students sleep, spending summers away from home and being weighed down by the constant pressure to produce-is it all worth it."

To answer that question. Egan remembers the 1984 Eastern Championships. Harvard had a narrow lead entering the final event--the 200-meter butterfly. Egan silently crouched on the block, carrying the burden of the team's success or failure alone.

"This may sound hackneyed, but it really makes you dig deep down," said Egan.

After claiming the race in record time, Egan hung onto the side of the pool amid his teammates' cheers--knowing it had all been worth it.

"Egan had a rough sophomore year that included some roommate problems, but the thing he remembers most is the victory in the Easterns.

"A year that was a total disaster can become," says Egan, "in less than five minutes, a total success."