Fresh off its winter training trip to Puerto Rico, the Harvard women’s swimming and diving team resumed its meet schedule in a nonconference contest against southern rivals Duke and South Carolina on Saturday.

The Crimson (4-1, 3-0 Ivy) narrowly beat the Gamecocks (5-4, 0-1 SEC), 154-146. But the Blue Devils (7-1, 1-1 ACC) handed Harvard its first loss of the season, winning 154-146.

Before the meet started, several factors made this contest different from the others that the Crimson has on its schedule.

The Harvard team had been traveling for the three days before the meet, and the squad arrived at the pool less than an hour after landing in North Carolina due to delays.

In addition, Saturday's meet was the first one since all three teams finished their winter training camps, during which teams typically undergo their most difficult training. With every team in top physical shape for 2015, the success came down to the little things.

“Not just the work but all the other intangibles came into effect,” said Harvard coach Stephanie Wriede Morawski ’92. “We knew everyone was tired, so it came down to who mentally had it, who was tougher.”

The Crimson was also facing its first nonconference meet against two teams with winning records. Both Duke and South Carolina came into the meet with a full schedule of conference, nonconference, and invitational meets under their belts, meaning Harvard began the meet with the least experience on the season.

With big meets against Yale and Princeton as well as the Ivy Championships coming up, this meet provided an opportunity for Harvard to practice competitive swimming without the pressure of the conference standings.

“It really played a big role in helping us practice for the final meets,” co-captain Stephanie Ferrell said. “It gives us practice for if [the Ivy meets] come down to the wire. We’ll know how to perform under pressure and stay mentally tough.”

This meet did come down to the wire, with all three teams’ records determined by the last race: the 400 freestyle relay. The Crimson needed to beat the Gamecocks to win the meet against South Carolina, and it needed both first and second place to beat the Blue Devils.

As the swimmers completed their last lap, Harvard sophomore Danielle Lee touched the wall first, followed shortly by the Duke A team. Sophomores Victoria Chan and Daniela Johnson and junior Kendall Crawford joined Lee on the winning relay team.

“Every opportunity you have to race somebody who’s faster pushes you to the very end,” Morawski said. “It shows who individually can step up, who can take it to the next level, who can handle the pressure. And as a team, it shows them what they’re capable of.”

In the 100 free, Chan beat out Duke’s Leah Goldman by 0.1 seconds to secure another podium-topping finish. Chan also took second in the 50 free and fourth in the 200 free.

Lee, who was Harvard’s only competitor in the NCAA championships last year, swam alongside Ferrell and Crawford in the 200 medley relay, and notched a third-place finish in the 200 free. Lee also earned the gold in the 200 backstroke, finishing alongside freshman teammate Kristina Li, who placed third in the event.

Ferrell herself took the Crimson’s first gold in the 100 breaststroke. She notched another first place finish in the 200 breast and placed third in the 200 individual medley behind freshman teammate Geordie Enoch.

“[Mental toughness] is the most important thing in competition,” Ferrell said. “You can make your body do whatever you want it to do if you’re mentally tough enough.”

On the boards, the Gamecocks proved dominant, sweeping the 3-meter event. The Harvard divers’ sole podium finish came from freshman Hannah Allchurch, whose performance of 291.30 prevented another South Carolina sweep in the 1-meter.

Sophomore Elina Leiviska had the Crimson’s top finish in the three-meter, finishing sixth.

Even with a win, Morawski says that the scores were not the most important part of the meet.

“What we took out of this meet was more than just one win,” Morawski said. “We took away a lot about how we can look to each other, we can be flexible under any circumstance, [and we] can be resilient, fight to the very end, and not give up under pressure.”

—Staff writer Isabel DeLaura can be reached at idelaura@college.harvard.edu.