The women's swimming and diving team gladly accepted the Ellen Perry Cup for finishing first at the Eastern Seaboard Championships.

The cup was hard-earned.

The competition for the Eastern title went down to the last race where the Lady Lions pulled out the victory over Harvard, 607-602.5.

Coach Bob Krimmel was honored as Swimming Coach of the Year and Craig Brown was honored as Diving Coach of the Year.

"It was luck," Krimmel said with a laugh. "You get it, but the kids did it."

The Lady Lions went into the meet ranked No. 1, but still were the underdog. According to the statistics, Harvard should have won Easterns by at least 100 points. The Lady Lions won by 4.5.

The Lady Lions led Harvard by 20 points the first day, trailed by 17 points the second day and still trailed by 28.5 points on the third day with 2 events to go.

Lara von Seelen took first place in the first of those events, the 3 meter diving, with a score of 436.35. Penn State won the event 25-0 over Harvard.

"She knew it was tight and she knew what she had to do," Krimmel said. "She felt the pressure being the only one on the end of the board."

Denise Sonntag said that the relay team hid behind the starting blocks during the diving.

"We couldn't even watch," Sonntag said. "Then Krim yelled 'She did it!' and everyone went crazy."

Then came the last event, the 400 yard freestyle relay.

The Lady Lions had a choice, win the relay and win the championship, or go home with second place. Fran McDermid, Jane Kleiderlein, Sonntag and Kristin Lilly were the swimmers who had the title rested on their race.

McDermid led off the relay with a 50.65 in the first 100 yards, this set a new Penn State record in the 100 freestyle and put the Lady Lions in excellent position. Kleiderlein, Sonntag and Lilly finished up the race with a final time of 3:23.66 -- a new Eastern record, a new Penn State record, a Pittsburgh pool record and a qualifying time for NCAAs. Most important, however, was that the race secured the Eastern Championship for the Lady Lions.

"It was incredible," Sonntag said. "It was the most exciting moment in my swimming career."

The race was complicated by Brown's Jennifer Boyd. Boyd won the 100 freestyle, breaking the Eastern record, and also the 100 butterfly and 50 freestyle. She was named the Outstanding Swimmer of the Meet.

"My concern wasn't necessarily with Harvard's relay but with Brown's relay," Krimmel said. "Some people thought that Boyd would make up the time. But there's no way she was going to catch Kristin Lilly."

The Lady Lions also qualified for the NCAAs in the 200 freestyle relay. Kleiderlein, McDermid, Tracey Sheleheda and Jill Fretz combined for a first place time of 1:34.76.

Lori Williams, Kathleen Dick, McDermid and Lilly placed first in the 400 medley relay (3:51.17) and the team of Lilly, Fretz, McDermid and Sonntag placed first in the 800 freestyle relay (7:26.54).

Lilly also placed first in the 500 freestyle with 4:51.01. This broke the longest Eastern record on the books and set a new Penn State record. She also finished first in the 200 freestyle with 1:49.83.

Amy Schmidt won the 1-meter diving with a score of 389.75.

Williams finished second overall in the 200 backstroke but broke a Penn State record with a time of 2:04.25.

Heather Nicholson finished second in the 1,650 freestyle but broke a Penn State record with 16:59.24.

McDermid set a new Penn State record with her second place finish in the 50 freestyle in 23.51.

"Hollywood couldn't have written a better script," Pittsburgh's announcer Don Brown said at the awards ceremony.

McDermid, Sonntag, Fretz, Williams, Quinn and Julie Anderson traveled to Cleveland on Sunday to compete in the Cleveland Open. The open is designed to enable swimmers to get one last chance to qualify for NCAAs.

No additional qualifications were earned.