Today is the day the women's swimming and diving team has been waiting for all season long. They have worked hard to make it to Pittsburgh, site of the 1990 Eastern Seaboard Championships.

"It's the meet everyone has talked about since the beginning of the season," freshman Fran McDermid said.

Easterns is the largest collegiate meet for women, even bigger than the NCAA Championships. Twenty-seven schools and 327 entrants will compete in the three-day event which concludes Saturday. According to the qualifying times, it could be the fastest Easterns in history.

"There's never been a meet like this before," Penn State coach Bob Krimmel said.

And that's an understatement.

It will be the most intense meet of the season for the Lady Lions. Pittsburgh's pool is fast. And, with the pressure and excitement of the meet, it should lead to the fastest times of the year for everyone competing. The Lady Lions have 17 swimmers and two divers entered in the meet.

The Lady Lions also have a chance to finish with their highest national ranking ever. Penn State won the Eastern title in the 1983-84 season and finished No. 20.

The team is currently ranked No. 1 in the East and boasts a 12-2 mark. It will, however, have to battle No. 2 Harvard, No. 3 Princeton and No. 4 Pitt in order to win the Eastern crown.

"We want to go out and beat Harvard and Pitt and everyone else who thinks they can beat us," McDermid said.

"I think we're a confident team," Lilly added. "We're ranked first and I think you can feel that on deck. We have all the makings of a championship team. We just have to do it."

Based on qualifying times, Harvard, Princeton, and Pitt all have the edge; but Penn State already has beaten Pitt and Princeton this year.

"What goes on paper doesn't matter," Krimmel said."You've got to do the job in the pool. All we need is the chance."

"I think we definitely have a shot at the title but you don;t know how it's going to go," Dick said. "We want to claim the title which we haven't had for so long."

In addition to competing for the Eastern title, individuals and relays teams will try to qualify for NCAAs. Lilly, Dick, Wilson, Sonntag and Schmidt have the best chance of qualifying, but don't count anyone out.

"Anyone could do it," Krimmel said.

"You can swim your best meet and you may not win, but it doesn't mean you lost," he added. "(Today) won't get here soon enough. Quizzes are over -- it's test time!"