Harvard's lightweight crew opens its racing season against Columbia this afternoon in the only home race of the spring.

Coach Bo Anderson, a former Dartmouth heavyweight, has had to rebuild his varsity around the returning veterans of last year's undefeated Thames Cup Champions.

Juniors Brian Sullivan, cox, and Monk Terry, stroke, start their third year together and have yet to be beaten. Senior Mike Radetsky, last year's bowman, will row at seven, while classmate Roger Cheever, who rowed on the varsity as a sophomore, returns this spring as bowman in the German-rigged boat.

Three sophomores from last year's undefeated freshman boat: Ken Moller, Bob Jenkins, and Terry Considine, have won the four, five and six seats. The remaining places are filled by juniors Bill Braun, up from a year on the JV, and Sandy Bolster, who has moved up the boat to number two from number six where he rowed last spring.

The JV and third varsity have stayed within striking distance of the varsity--each of the boats have had their winning moments over the past two weeks. This relative closeness of the crews could narrow the margin over Columbia, but unless the Lions come up with a remarkable improvement over the previous year's efforts, Harvard should have little trouble.