The Harvard lightweight crew season is already two races old, but the crucial question for 1987--whether Harvard has a strong enough varsity to down Princeton, Yale, and Rutgers for lightweight supremacy--is still as uncertain as ever.

Harvard Lightweight Crew

1986 record: 3-2

1987 record to date: 2-0

(Eastern Sprints on May 10)

On April 4, the Crimson traveled to Philadelphia to face Penn--a race added to the Crimson schedule this year in the hopes of better preparing the oarsmen for crucial late-season matchups.

The race may have been a great idea, but the Crimson looked less-than-impressive in dropping a close finish to the Quakers.

The Harvard boatings had been determined just a day before the race, and the river conditions were extremely choppy, but the 155's didn't perform like the top crew in the land.

"We just didn't go out there and race them," says second-year Lightweight Coach Charlie Butt.

But last Saturday on the Charles, the Crimson came off the line with a controlled fury, and never let up on the way to dusting Dartmouth and MIT.

Neither the Big Green nor MIT IS A lightweight powerhouse, but Harvard still shoe as an altogether different crew--and a much more impressive one--than it was against Penn.

All of which means that, once again in '87, the Harvard lightweights will not know just how good they are until Harvard-Yale-Princeton race-day on April 25, and the Eastern Sprints two Sunday's later.

"The point of getting the early race against Pennsylvania was experience," Butt says. "With our past schedule, we did well early but then got in trouble. So we went South, raced Southern crews that had been on the water for two months, and we got some answers."

And as the Dartmouth race proved, the Crimson took the lessons to heart. "We're going about changing some of those answers, "adds Butt.

Collectively, the members of the Crimson Eight are a relatively untested group. We're a hard crew to characterize," Butt says. "but obviously we're young in terms of varsity experience."

Sophomore four-man Eric Davis is inexperienced in any terms. The former runner had never rowed before this season, and is the first novice to crack the Harvard Eight in recent memory.

The varsity stroke for the Dartmouth race was junior Andrew Hoyt, who started the year stroking the JV. Hoyt was the six-man in the '85 Sprints-champion freshman crew, but spent last season away from rowing.

Returning from last year's varsity boat is junior Jim Himes at five. Junior Captain Mike Horvath saw varsity action last season at the Eastern Sprints, and will row from the two seat in the '87 Eight.

Junior Sam shuffler makes the jump from last year's JV to the varsity six seat, and Austin Moore moves down from Harry Parker's heavies to give the lights some added punch at three.

Juniors Eric Kaardahl in bow and John Velyvis at seven rounded out the Crimson Eight in the Dartmouth race. Senior Marty Katz coxed against Penn, but junior Mark Coyne got the call for the Dartmouth--MIT contest.

The Crimson line-up is still far from set, however, "We're still taking a look," says Butt. among those who could make their way into the Eight are varsity veteran Chris Wendland, who earned a seat in this year's varsity before being injured prior to last Saturday's race. He's expected back this week, however. Sophomore Larry Meyer also has varsity experience, and rowed with the Eight against Penn before being switched to JV stroke. JV two-seat Tom Patterson stroked the varsity for three races last year, and could make an appearance before the season ends.

This year's JV boat has posted a 2-0 mark this far, but has yet to be tested, and like the varsity will undergo a trial-by-fire against Princeton and Yale.

Second-year freshmen Coach Blocker Meitzen has a strong group of Yardlings in '87, and after impressive wins against Penn, Dartmouth and MIT, the frosh seem capable of improving on last year's second-place Eastern Sprints showing.

The Crimson crews travel to Annapolis, Maryland, next weekend for an annual sea-duel with the Midshipmen of navy. the varsity has taken the Haines Cup five years running, and in 18 of 20 attempts overall.

Then it's the all-important HYP's on April 25, this year hosted by the lights on the Charles. Harvard has failed to win the Goldthwait Cup, the symbol of victory among the traditional "Big Three" of lightweight rowing, since 1980. For the past two seasons, the Crimson 155's have finished third.

The climactic Eastern Sprints will end the lightweight season on May 10, where Harvard will be attempting to improve on last season's fourth-place finish behind Princeton, Yale, and Rutgers.

After last year's Sprint disappointment, there was speculation that the Crimson had been out-trained. Butt claims it won't happen again.

"We're pursuing things differently this year, in view of the end result last season," the former Rutgers coach says. "We're doing a greater volume of work, including considerably more mileage on the water."

Can that extra training mileage can be translated into victory margins at HYP's and the Eastern Sprints?

Stay tuned.