The women's swimming and diving team is rolling toward the Eastern Championships and Eastern foe Harvard.

The stage has been set all season with the Lady Lions undefeated in the East, ranked No. 2; Harvard also undefeated and ranked No. 1.

But things have changed.

This weekend the Lady Crimson lost to Princeton at home, 72-68. The Lady Lions have also faced Princeton this season but won the meet, 180-112.

"It will pump the kids up to see them lose," Coach Bob Krimmel said. "I think the kids will see that Easterns will be a real battle."

"It gives us a little more confidence knowing they're not unbeatable," senior Jill Fretz said. "If we perform as well as we can individually the rest is going to come."

"I think it gives us more confidence," Fran McDermid said. "But I think they might even be a little more out to get us."

The Lady Lions continued to dominate this weekend, beating the University of Maryland-Baltimore County in Baltimore. The Lady Lions took 12 first places in the 183-104 romp, improving their record to 11-2.

"This was a day for us to move people around," Krimmel said. "I gave them a chance to swim in different events. You get stale if you keep swimming the same event. Because we have such a large team it gives the opportunity for people who don't get a chance to swim their events a chance to swim for points."

"It showed the diversity we had," McDermid said. "It helped us look at a lot of different situations."

McDermid, a freestyler, swam in the 100 and 200-yard butterfly, taking second in both events. Jennifer Wilson, normally a butterflier, won the 100-yard backstroke (1:02.5) and placed second in the 200 backstroke.

Fretz, the only Lady Lion entered in the 1,000 freestyle, won it in 10:43.69.

Megan Smothergill, Julie Anderson, Susanne Sloan, Jane Kleiderlein and Kathleen Dick also took first places in the meet.

Divers Amy Schmidt, Lara von Seelen and Kristin Tressler continued the Lady Lions' dominance, sweeping both the one-meter and three-meter boards.