The Harvard women’s swimming and diving team has a collection of T-shirts for meets and workouts. Each year, the coaches and team members select a slogan for these shirts that reflects the team’s goals and attitude for the upcoming season.

On the back of this year’s signature shirt, it simply says, “Stronger.”

That’s fitting, because if the Crimson is to make an impact in the Ivy League this year, Harvard will indeed need to be stronger and more consistent this than it has been in the recent past.

And if you were to ask any of the team’s swimmers and divers, they would tell you this is the year they are going to turn things around.

“We’re looking to go undefeated this season and we want to win the Ivy League title,” said Rachael O’Beirne, an Ivy League finalist and veteran Crimson breaststroker. “We’re confident and excited.”

Last year’s team had great individual successes, led by tri-captain Pia Chock. Chock dominated the league’s sprinting and butterfly events leading up to the Ivy Championships. She left with team records in the 100 and 200-yard butterfly events.

But even as individual swimmers posted a number of breakthrough performances and personal-best times, Harvard had difficulty replicating those

swims on the relays last season.

What also made those individuals’ swims bittersweet was the fact that other teams in the Ivy League—like Princeton, Yale, and Pennsylvania—had been improving at a faster rate and recruiting with greater success than Harvard.

But in the eyes of co-captain Catie Lee, all of that is about to change.

“We’re looking to be mentally tougher and we are sharpening our competitive edge,” Lee said. “Our frosh are super-competitive, and with their potential and their attitude, it’s no secret that our confidence, intensity, and training will pay off.”

According to junior standout Jane Humphries, the future of Crimson swimming and diving is bright because of the talent of its freshmen class.

“These girls are stellar. They are healthy and they are ready to step up,” said Humphries said.

Harvard will look toward the Class of 2005 with the hope that it can bridge the gap between the Crimson and the top teams in the Ivy League, Princeton and Brown.

“Our improvement and the arrival of our freshmen comes at an opportune time,” Co-captain Janna McDougall McDougall said. “Princeton has been at the top of the league for a while, and it is easy to become complacent. Brown has a new coach, and their team, in our eyes, is a little unstable right now.”

Harvard will be led by a crop of up-and-coming swimmers and by divers Anne Osmun and Coral Day-Davis, both Junior National finalists.

Freshman Whitney Henderson will make a splash in the 200-yard butterfly, the individual medleys, and the freestyle events. A versatile competitor, Henderson will fill in wherever Coach Stephanie Morawski ’92 finds a hole in the line-up. Henderson already leads the league with a 2:03.57 in the 200-yard butterfly, a time from Harvard’s intrasquad competition.

The Crimson will try to fill its biggest gap in last year’s line-up with breaststrokers Diane Dewey and Jelena Kristic. Both are experienced in the 100 and 200-yard events, and Kristic is a national qualifier.

Distance swimmers Shannon McKinley and Steph Greco will battle it out in the 500, 1000, and 1650-yard freestyle events. Both are Junior National and U.S. Open qualifiers, and hail from New York-based distance-oriented programs.

Distance Coach Katherine Veazey will have to make many tactical decisions throughout the season as to how to best place McKinley and Greco in the lineup in order to maximize the Crimson’s point totals.

“Everyone should expect great things from the distance lane this year,” McKinley said. “There are now eight of us working together in the distance group and we are working hard to achieve our goals. It is not easy to slack off when there are seven other girls pushing you to go faster.”

Harvard’s lone Olympic Trials qualifier is freshman Emily Stapleton. A seasoned competitor, Stapleton will race the backstrokes and 200-yard individual medley. The Crimson will look to Stapleton when she squares off against Princeton’s Kate Conroy, the Tiger’s lone NCAA qualifier, later in the season.

Harvard hopes to double dip with freshmen Molly Ward and Molly Brethauer. Both are Junior National qualifiers. Ward will anchor many of the Crimson’s medley and freestyle relays and Brethauer will add her punch in the backstroke and butterfly events.

Perhaps the best additions to the Crimson come on the boards.

Freshman Anne Osmun is a six-time Junior National finalist. She is known for her precision and lines in the air. Teammate Coral Day-Davis is a Junior National finalist on platform, and will help replace the gap left by two departed seniors, co-captain Ali Shipley and NCAA qualifier Camila McLean.

Along with the onslaught of new talent, the Crimson’s key returners boast experience and proven success.

Janna McDougall, Ivy finalist and seasoned sprinter, will lead the Crimson into this season. After a rough transition into college swimming, McDougall bounced back last year with college and lifetime bests for Harvard. McDougall will contend for the Ivy championship in the 50-yard freestyle, an event she currently leads the league in with a time of 23.81. She will also shoot for the 100-yard freestyle and backstroke titles.

Humphries will make a charge at team records in the 200-yard freestyle and the individual medleys. She will also be a key participant on Harvard’s freestyle relays.

Junior Jessi Walter will boost the depth of the Crimson backstroke corps. Walter catapulted herself to success last year by demolishing her personal best times, hurriedly climbing Harvard’s all-time lists and nearly breaking the team records.

The Crimson will also rely junior sprinter Anna Fraser. Fraser’s expertise in the sprint butterfly, freestyle and backstroke events is of immeasurable importance to Harvard’s squad, as she proved in a hurried and triumphant return to the pool in the middle of last year after suffering a shoulder surgery.

Sophomore Kate Nadeau is the former team record holder in the 200-yard butterfly, and will be looking to launch an aquatic assault on Chock’s butterfly team records, as well as on the rest of the Ivy League.

Sophomore diver Rene Paradise will lead a trio of freshmen divers in their quest to bounce Princeton from the top of the Ivy League’s diving rankings.

One of Harvard’s critical challenges will be its effort to maintain fast swimming throughout the season, up to and including the Ivy championships and possibly the NCAAs.

“Coach Morawski has told us we need to have staying power this season,” said Walter. “We know how to swim fast and train hard, this year, we just need to stay excited and continue to elevate our performances as the months go by.”

The team has started out on the right foot.

“At this point in the season our returning swimmers are doing better than ever,” said McDougall. “We’re in this for the right reasons and with all the racing we’ve been doing, things are just going to get better for us.”

If the talent of the freshman and the determination of Harvard’s returning competitors is any sign, the Crimson might just surprise the rest of the league.

Already Harvard has defeated powerhouse University of Michigan in a relay scrimmage. This weekend Harvard heads to Hanover, N.H., for a tri-meet against Dartmouth and Cornell.

For this year’s Crimson squad, it is just a matter of time before they are stronger than the rest.