The Harvard varsity lightweight crew, coming off an impressive victory against Rutgers and Columbia last week, today take on the MIT and Dartmouth lights in a contest for the Biglin Bowl on the Charles River Basin.

The Crimson should have plenty of incentive going into the encounter. In a pre-season poll, Eastern coaches picked Princeton, MIT, and Harvard to be the top three teams in that order in the East with Dartmouth ending up at the bottom in the poll. Captain Chris Ross said, "We've been looking forward to this race since that poll came out."

So while the Big Green should not prove to be a factor, the Engineers could give the Crimson its stiffest test of the year.

In their season-opening race last week, the Engineers easily handled Yale, defeating the Elis by seven seconds. In that race, however, MIT blasted out a full length lead by the first 500 meters of the race and was content to sit on the margin the rest of the way.

MIT Presents a Challenge

In its only other race of the year, MIT lost to the UMass varsity heavy weights by a similar length margin.

First-year MIT coach Bill Miller said, "We jumped right out on Yale and they never challenged us. In the UMass race, although we lost, it was a very good race for us."

Miller has four holdovers coming back from last year's first varsity eight, and a strong freshman boat has further bolstered his squad. Miller made one change from last week's boat, moving John Sheets from the junior varsity to the number five spot in the varsity eight.

Harvard coach John Higginson on the other hand has stayed with last week's winning combination. Ned Reynolds is at stroke, Todd Howard at seven, Leif Soderberg at six, Mac Heller at five, Paul McKenna at four, John Kiger at three, Pete Huntsman at two, and Bob Leahey at bow.

Close Race Expected

Both coaches expect a tough, hardfought race. "I think it will be a close exciting race from start to finish. I don't see either crew blowing the other off the course," Miller said.

Higginson said, "You can't judge the new coaching impetus. They have a very light, swift boat, and they've looked good out on the river from what I've seen of them."

In a race on the Charles yesterday, the third varsity lights trounced the third B.U. heavies by one and one-half lengths. The 3-V had open water by the 750 meter point and cruised to an easy victory. The Crimson third boaters covered the 2000 meter course in 6:25, with a following wind.

The varsity race is scheduled for 11:45, with the freshman and junior varsity races starting earlier in the day.