Harvard's heavyweight and lightweight crews face their most important tests of the season today as they battle for mid-season supremacy against some of the top crews in the East.

The heavies are favored in this morning's Adams Cup race on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia against Penn and Navy--probably the second and third best crews respectively in the East. The lights, on the other hand, will be underdogs when they race against Yale and Princeton in this morning's Goldthwait Cup on Charles River. The Harvard lights have not captured the Goldthwait Cup since 1980.

The heavies established early season dominance three weeks ago when they out-rowed Navy in San Diego in the year's first important race. Penn was disqualified in the preliminary heats, but their time would have been highly competitive had it counted.

Traditionally, the winner of the Adams Cup has fared well in the Eastern Sprints, which are now just two weeks away. Penn captured both races last year.

On A Lighter Note

The H-Y-P meet in Cambridge should indicate just how strong the lightweight shells will be the remainder of the season.

Harvard, which has placed third in the H-Y-Ps each of the past two years, opened its campaign with a narrow loss to Penn, but has looked impressive in victories in each of the past two weeks.

Princeton is the traditional power among the lights in the East, but a loss to Rutgers a few weeks ago indicates that the Tigers may be vulnerable this time around.

Black and White

Meanwhile, the Radcliffe heavyweight, junior varsity and novice crews will face Yale tomorrow on the Charles River in their third Ivy League contests of the season.

The rival crews will be competing for the Case Cup, a trophy created in 1980 in honor of Yale women's crew Coach Nathaniel Case.

Last year the heavyweights destroyed the Bulldogs by an outstanding 11.5-second margin, and are currently the top-ranked crew in the Eastern League with an undefeated 4-0 record.

The Elis have defeated Radcliffe seven times in 11 tries since 1976, and even though they are ranked sixth in the East this season and have only one returning rower from last year, the Bulldogs cannot be completely overlooked.

The heavies are coming off a second-place finish in the Redwood Shores Regatta last weekend. The Black and White dropped a close contest to five-time national champion Washington, now the number-one ranked crew in the country, but placed ahead of defending national champion Wisconsin.

The varsity lightweights (4-0), racing in an eight and a four, face Wellesley and Simmons today on the Charles.