Don't call it a dynasty--yet.

Wait until the Harvard women's swimming team has won the Eastern Swimming Championships for the fourth time in five years and the second time in a row.

Which, if all goes well, will occur late Saturday night. Then, by all rights, the team will earn the right to call itself a dynasty.

"With the amount of hard work we've put in," Co-Captain Stacie Duncan said, "it would be very hard for any team to beat us."

Harvard (6-1 Ivy) hosts the Easterns this year. Races are scheduled for today, tomorrow and Saturday at Blodgett Pool.

The competition includes all the Ivy League schools as well as 15 other teams from the Eastern Conference.

The Crimson, which shared the Ivy crown with Yale and Princeton, is expected to win the tournament with an impressive display of depth and talent.

Favorites Going In

"We are picked to be the favorite," Coach Maura Costin-Scalise said. "But I just tell my swimmers to get up and go."

Harvard's only loss came to Princeton, 151-149. But this loss was more a result of Princeton's training schedule than a preponderance of Tiger talent.

Princeton reduced the intensity of its practice before its dual meet with Harvard, while the Crimson continued its normal training schedule for Easterns.

"It's really hard to get up in the middle of the season for a team that focuses its entire season around you," Costin-Scalise said.

Harvard actually expects to face its stiffest challenge from Yale, and American University.

The Crimson whomped on Yale earlier this year, winning in New Haven, 180-120.

However, the Elis defeated Princeton in a dual meet last weekend to create the three-way tie for first in the Ancient Eight.