On the 15-minute walk to McCoy Natatorium last Saturday morning, plenty became visible in the early morning light. First, there was the pilot of the red Toyota Tacoma, swerving out of control in rally-car fashion. A little further on, a squirrel eating a dead leaf. Finally, clusters of the Penn State women's swimming team entering McCoy for their 8 a.m. practice. Who is the craziest?

Dedication to an athletic squad can explain the early rising requirements of this or any team. Some of the swimmers have practiced such a routine since high school. However, in the time spent observing a two-hour practice, one can see that dedication, together with coaching and talent, coalesce into more than mere routine.

8 a.m. -- Penn State coach Bill Dorenkott calls a team meeting, covering the day's practice and speaks about going to the Big Ten Championships, telling the team to remember the 7 a.m. departure later that week for Indiana, site of the meet. A hitch: the team has been displaced from its original hotel to one that is 30 miles away in Columbus, Ind. Dorenkott emphasizes focus on performances and not setbacks, noting that this team is travel-savvy.

"We will win the Big Ten Championships based on seven sessions, 20 events, 27 girls, one team," Dorenkott said.

8:25 -- Team cheer prior to getting in the pool. This is perfect evidence of the Lions as a cohesive unit. The men, in contrast, don't do anything of the sort before they practice.

Every team has some pre-event ritual: the Penn State basketball team slaps the floor, Under Armor-wearers protect the house before lifting and the swim team cheers.

8:30 -- The United States Anti-Doping Agency conducts two tests on sophomore Margy Keefe and senior Kristen Woodring. Because they are world-ranked in their respective events, they are subject to random testing and must submit the names of any prescriptions they might be taking.

There are four different groups of swimmers, and each has a different practice set: pure sprinters, sprint-oriented swimmers, strokers and distance swimmers.

Sprinters practice at a higher heart rate and stress their anaerobic systems, while the distance group swims at a lower intensity, utilizing its aerobic system.

"[They are] keeping the feel of the water, getting their strength back as they're getting their rest," assistant coach Ed Bartsch said, also saying that the team could have eight swimmers place in the mile at Big Tens.

8:55 -- The entire team gathers to practice relay transitions. Specifically at work is the medley relay team of seniors Dierdre Dlugonski and Woodring, and juniors Amberle Biedermann and Sarah Haupt. Electronic pads are supposed to time the split seconds between the swimmer in the water touching the wall and the next swimmer leaving the block.

However, the quality of equipment of the Penn State swimming program requires that the coaches use eyesight instead.

The swimmer's toes must be on the block as the other swimmer touches the wall, or the team may be disqualified. There is no timing device at the Big Ten Championships, so it's up to the judge to see.

"Ninety percent of all false starts are because the swimmer in the water didn't get to the wall," assistant coach John Hargis said, adding that the swimmer on the block has to be comfortable with the swimmer's stroke and tempo in order to get a good transition.

9:15 -- Senior Larissa Kavchok, sitting in the hot tub on deck, explains part of the psychological aspects of having to get up early and being part of a varsity swimming program.

"You know that everybody else is [waking up early]," Kavchok said. "If you didn't show up, you'd be letting your team down."

Kavchok said that the time commitment in swimming sometimes doesn't permit her to hang out with her friends outside of swimming, but she still values those friendships.

"With traveling, it gets frustrating. This is my family, and you have your friends. They keep me grounded. [We] hang out and not talk about swimming. [I] feel like a student without the pressure."

However, she said that many of her friends outside of swimming share her interest in math, and subsequently the team made fun of her for being a dork.

9:30 -- Some of the swimmers practice stroke rate, or strokes per second. Each swimmer has a target stroke rate that achieves peak efficiency in the pool. A rate too quick or slow is indicative of too quick or strenuous an effort, poor technique, or fatigue.

9:55 -- The men's team is on deck and getting prepared to practice while the women warm down. Their season is ramping up to its penultimate event, where 27 individually motivated girls will try to prove themselves as one team, one champion.