So far this season, the No. 22 Harvard men's swimming and diving team has proven that it can paste local eastern teams like Columbia and Army just as well as ever.

This weekend, the Crimson will get to prove whether it can beat the best teams in the nation.

Yesterday, the Harvard swimmers flew down to the Longhorn State to compete at the 2000 Texas Invitational, which boasts perhaps most powerful field of collegiate swimming teams that will assemble before the postseason.

Harvard, the five time-defending Eastern Champions, will be up against the pride of the Big 12, the Big 10 and the Pac-10. No. 1 Texas, No. 5 Arizona, No. 7 California, No. 9 Michigan, No. 12 Arizona State will all be competing in the weekend meet, along with five other teams.

The field reads like a list of who's-who among the swimming elite. Among the notable swimmers are nine Olympic medallists including five gold medallists--Texas' s Ian Crocker, Brendan Hannan, and Erin Phenix, as well as California's Anthony Ervin and Stanford's Misty Hyman.

The Crimson will undoubtedly earn its fair share of points against the top competition. Twelve of Harvard's members swam in the Olympic Trials this summer. The Crimson has finished respectably in the NCAAs in past three seasons: 26th in 2000, 24th in 1999, and 11th in 1998.

The two swimmers with the best chance of earning a high individual standing appear to be new freshman star John Cole and sophomore Dan Shevchik.

Cole has had no trouble thus far supplanting former Crimson editor Tim Martin '00 as Harvard's new distance king.