"The freshmen were amazed at how well we came together," Gustafsson said. "That helped everyone swim perform at their best individually."

Other freshmen standouts from Saturday include individual event winners Christin McConnell, who won the 200-freestyle in 1:54.88, Victoria Chang, who out-paced the competition in the 100 freestyle with a 53.44, and Rachel O'Beirne--who sneaked by Jo to win the 200 individual medley in a time of 2:11.16.

Surely the freshman class will play a vital role as the season gets underway.

"The freshmen were all looking for a good first look at Ivy competition," said Gustafsson. "Going into meets like Brown [which is next weekend] we wanted to have a feel for the atmosphere and meet formats, since they are so different high school."

The pure depth of the team, augmented by the freshmen, also highlights the team's early cohesion. Not did Harvard win 15 of 16 events, but it finished one-two in seven of them, one-two-three in five of them, and even swept the 200-individual medley completely with an unheard-of one-through-four finish.

Now the Crimson is hoping to build on this weekend's breakthrough racing with a win over defending Ivy champion Brown. Although the Bears have claimed the last three dual-meet decisions, the Crimson's newly established confidence could bring that streak tumbling down.

"We are more excited for Brown than ever before," said Todor. "This weekend we got the jitters out and pulled together as a team despite our big numbers. We are ready!"

While the upcoming dual meet marks Todor and her senior classmates' final chance to beat Brown, the newly arrived freshmen are just as excited.