Harvard cross-country is ready. Ready to trade in the long, stressful, painful months of training for a chance to come up huge today in a race which will ultimately last less than 30 minutes.

The men's and women's teams traveled to Van Courtlandt Park in New York City yesterday for the Heptagonal Cross-Country Championships. Essentially an Ivy League Championship with a little bit of Naval Academy thrown in, Heps is the biggest team race of the season.

"This is payoff time," Captain Margaret Schotte said.

Coming off a successful seventh-place finish at the New England Championships, the women's team said it feels ready to peak.

"Last year there was much more pressure on us, and we tended to choke at the big meets; now we don't have that pressure," Schotte said. "We have a whole season of training behind us, and we've been building so we just need to continue that trend."

Like any team late in its season, the Crimson has its share of nagging injuries. Harvard's top finisher in New Englands, Schotte has been bothered by a mild right hamstring injury since August. The injury has thrown off her stride slightly, resulting in some tenderness and stiffening in her left knee.

"I'll run through it," Schotte said. "You always run through stuff like that."

Junior Kate Moynihan has also been bothered by a knee injury. However, Schotte says that sophomore Senta Burton is coming off a strong season and that sophomore Mary Unsworth "is focused now and in fantastic shape." Freshman Erin Leonard "has been running really well and has had a really strong season."

Schotte also noted the progress of the freshmen.

"There has been phenomenal improvement in the freshmen," Schotte said. "It's going to be really exciting to take them back to the first course they raced on and see the improvement."

As for the competition, the Crimson has already matched up against Dartmouth, Yale and Princeton.

"We know we're really close to them," Schotte said.

The men are coming off a fourth-place finish at New Englands and are fielding one of the strongest teams in years.

"I think this is the best team we've had in the four years I've been here," Captain Scott Muoio said.

Despite the loss of freshman Jussi Utriainen, one of the squad's top runners who left Harvard to attend business school in Finland, Harvard is still fielding a very strong pack, thanks mostly to a great depth of talent.