This season the Ivy League Championships were faster than they have ever been. More individuals from the conference will qualify for the NCAA Championships this season than in several years, a sign of growing depth in the league.

In a conference where the competition has been growing more fierce each season, the Crimson selected to compete elevated its performance to the best of its ability in order to keep up with Ivy rivals Princeton, Brown, and Yale.

It is probable that a different crop of athletes might have yielded more points at the Ivies, giving Harvard a more realistic chance at finishing among the top three teams.

However, the importance of having the complete senior and freshmen classes at the competition (excluding Harvard freshmen diving superstar Brittany Garza, who is recovering from an apendectomy) appears to have weighed heavily on coach Steph Wriede-Morawski's '92 decision.

Although Harvard finished fourth, its worst performance since 1997, it makes sense to focus on what the 2000-2001 Crimson has accomplished.

Harvard rewrote its history book over the course of the season; more than a dozen Crimson athletes moved up on and broke into Harvard's all-time top ten lists. This is indicative of the elevated performances the Crimson had all year and especially at H-Y-P and the Ivies.

It is also a sign of the faster and more talented recruiting classes that assistant coach Katherine Veazey '95 continues to secure.

"Harvard women's swimming and diving has unfinished business," Peluse said. "The Ivy League is getting faster but so are we. We had an amazing year because of the team dynamic we maintained and the attitude we kept. This was a team of leaders."