"There's really nothing to it," said co-captain Jocelyn Ludwick. "We need to get up and swim. Our potential meets up well with our goals."

"Now all we need to do is go out and earn it. And I'm confident we can do that. We're ready to just live swimming until Sunday; we've got the work out of the way and all we want now is to get on our plane," she said.

Perhaps the biggest factor working against the Crimson is the widespread flu epidemic that has overtaken Blodgett Pool.

"A lot of us have been really sick over the last couple of weeks," said Jo, who is herself recovering. "That's always going to be a big concern, but we've adjusted our last-minute training well to compensate for it."

Certainly a big improvement over the last few years for Harvard is its strong presence in every event rather than a limited few.

"Really, we have people who should final in each event," Baxter said. "But specifically, our butterfliers have been swimming incredibly thus far this season, and they should be a huge asset."

The butterfly events will definitely generate major points for Harvard, with freshman Sarah Murphy and sophomore Pia Chock coming off of an emotional one-two finish over both Yale and Princeton in the 100-yard distance.

Another area the Crimson should be strong in is the distance events.

After not having a single swimmer entered in the mile at last year's meet, Harvard has fielded three of the top ten entries for this weekend, with freshmen Tina Weiner and Rebekah Lorenz, along with junior Adrienne Leight, all expected to final.

"Even though we didn't have anyone swimming in the mile last year, we are confident in our training from this season," Weiner said. "I think we are ready to show the other Ivy programs that our distance group is going to be a force to be reckoned with. We won't be shying away from races with Brown and Princeton swimmers."

On the other side of the spectrum, Harvard's sprinters also look to improve on last year's finishes.

"Our relays are better than they've been in the past also," Baxter said. "They should be big factors for us."

The freshman class has certainly played a big role in that improvement, as Janna McDougall, Murphy, and Baxter will all help Harvard's relay efforts.

Not to mention Jo and fellow junior Corie Calfee, who will both add tremendous depth to the Crimson attack with the amazing versatility that placed each of them in three finals last year.

Baxter will also be one of the forces to be reckoned with in the breaststroke events, along with perennial breaststroke finalist junior Alexis Todor and sophomore Karen Milkosky, who is coming off of a great performance at H-Y-Ps.