Day begins before dawn for Jon E. Kossow '96.

Three days a week, Kossow wakes up at 5:30 a.m. in his first floor room at 29 Garden St., grabs his cab voucher provided by the athletic department and hopes in the back seat of a taxi so he won't be late to 6 a.m. swim practice at Blodgett Pool.

Although a sprinter, Kossow swims nearly two miles by the time he sits down to breakfast. And morning isn't the only time he tastes chlorine. After his classes, Kossow pedals his bike back over the Charles to Blodgett for three hours of swimming sprints and strength training.

These five hour practices on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, which are supplemented by two hour workouts on Tuesday and Thursdays, leave Kossow exhausted, he says.

But, like many of his fellow undergraduate athletes, Kossow came to Harvard to live just this sort of life. In fact, according to its athletic department, Harvard College has more students participating in intercollegiate athletics than any other school in the country.

And these athletes say the nature of their involvement in Harvard athletics goes beyond the amount of time they spend practicing their sport.

"It consumes you," says Kathy Delaney Smith, coach of the women's basketball team for the past 11 years. "You have to love the game to play because it takes up a major portion of your time."

"It's important that they're eating right and sleeping right," says Men's Hockey Coach Ronnie R.Tomassoni, adding that his players' academicschedules are a major concern of his. "A hugeadvantage for our athletes is the reading period."

Even for some sports, reading period isn't muchof a break. Tomassoni's team, for one, will playfour games this January, including three roadgames in upstate New York.

Many Harvard athletes say the amount of timethey must devote to athletics has a strong impacton their academics, their work and their sociallives--many room with other athletes.

And while their reasons for coming to Harvarddiffer, several of the College's best athletesgave up scholarship offers and sacrificed some oftheir athletic aspirations to come here.

Right after Thomas E. McConnon '96, a member ofHarvard's cross country team, settled into hisroom in Hollis Hall, he began practicing with histeam.

Practices didn't abate once school started.McConnon runs two hours a day during the week, andon Saturdays mornings, the team runs at WaldenPond.

McConnon, who is from Halifax, Nova Scotia,came to Harvard in part, he says, because CoachFrank Haggerty "recruits a lot of Canadians." ButMcConnon says he also decided to enroll for theschool's academic reputation, and that travel andthe other demands of his sport have taken theirtoll on him.

"You can't get much done on the bus, and theclasses you miss Thursdays and Fridays hurt," saysMcConnon, who adds that his sports commitment hasmade him a better organized student. "Theacademics ruin you for running: too little sleep,too much stress."

The time demands of their rigorous athletic andacademic schedules is a constant source of tensionin their lives, these athletes say. The issue hasrepeatedly been discussed by the athleticdepartment and the Standing Committee onAthletics, a Faculty group that oversees theathletic department.