Cole finished 12th at the Olympic Trials this summer in the 1500-meter freestyle and has already set NCAA qualifying standards in the mile and 500 freestyle.

It's safe to say that he will face much tougher competition this weekend than in the Army-Columbia tri-meet, when he won by over half a minute in the 1000-meter freestyle.

Shevchik proved himself to be among the nation's best in his first season at Harvard last year. He placed eighth in the 200-meter backstroke and 12th in the 400-meter individual medley at NCAAs to earn All-American honors and the bulk of Harvard's scoring for the meet.

Shevchik also placed highly in the Olympic Trials this summer, making it to the finals in one event, but placing well short of a berth in Sydney. He was the bronze medalist at the 2000 Pan American games.

Distance freestylers Andrew McConnell, a sophomore, and Ben Hanley, a junior, are the other returning Crimson swimmers who qualified for NCAAs last year.

The Texas Invitational will be Harvard's only major meet in the month of December. The Crimson still has a long season ahead, as its most important meets are a long way off. The H-Y-P meet will not be until early February, and Harvard will look for its sixth straight Eastern Championship in early March.

But as for the here and the now, Harvard fans can follow the results of the meet almost as soon as they happen through www.texassports.com.