Just like a race car driver who wants to test a new engine at full throttle but realizes that it must wait until race day, so the Harvard women's swimming team faces Cornell tonight at Blodgett Pool.

Harvard would love to blow Cornell out of the water with an impressive Ivy League victory, but it is mindful of the greater importance of the upcoming Eastern Championships two weeks away.

With earlier Ancient Eight losses to Yale and Princeton, the team's focus has shifted to Easterns, which Harvard won last year. (And the year before that, and the year before that, but that's another story.)

That's where the fine tuning comes in.

"It's good to have another chance to race before the Easterns," Assistant Coach Stacie Duncan '92 said. "[The meet with Cornell] gives us another chance to work on our starts and turns. It's different than practice, because it allows the swimmers to work on their technique in a real race."

According to Duncan, most of the swimmers on the team are in the middle of their taper in anticipation of Easterns, which makes it very hard to tell how fast they will be able to race tonight.

While the swimmers would like, to post good numbers, however, times in the Cornell race are not their top priority.

"I told [the swimmers] not to worry about times. I just want them to practice their races for Easterns. We are more concerned with doing our strokes correctly," Duncan said.

The meet may also mark the end of the season for those Harvard swimmers who are not selected to compete at Easterns.

"That team will be decided on Saturday," Duncan said.

In the meantime, some swimmers are shaving and tapering in preparation for tonight's meet, according to Duncan.

These swimmers will be racing at their peak., striving for a final triumph in a season of triumph and turmoil.

Meanwhile, many of their team-mates will be swimming off-events as they anxiously await their moment of glory.

"[Swimming off events] just gives people a chance to swim an event which they probably haven't had a chance to swim all year," sophomore Val Gibson said.

Off events and Easterns aside, the Crimson isn't looking too far past the Big Red.

Cornell placed fourth at the Easterns (behind you know who), and can bring a depth Harvard hasn't seen too often this season.

"They have a full complement of people in every event," Head Coach Costin Scalise said. "But it would be nice to win our last meet of the season."

According to Costin Scalise, this year's team again has what it takes to capture the biggest prize on the East coast.

"Our makeup this year is like a championship team. We do have a lot of stars, but what we have is so much depth, which would be to our advantage in the Easterns, since it's a dual meet," Costin Scalise said.