If you were to venture down to Newell Boathouse these mid-March Jays, you'd find Harvard's oarsmen less concerned with national titles than with destroying teammates in that fearsome spring ritual known as seat-racing. But once heavyweight coach Harry Parker chooses his eight, you can bet the boathouse mortgage that the Crimson will be among the fastest crews on the river.

"Right now we're still fairly preoccupied with seat racing," second-year Captain Steve Wayne says, "but in general our spirits are good, and our expectations for the season are pretty high."

With a solid core of oarsmen back from the '87 national championship campaign, the Crimson is at or near the top of everyone's pre-season predictions--an accustomed place for the Harvard heavies.

Ever since 1852, when eight Cantab oarsmen dusted a crew from "that school up in New Haven" in the first-ever intercollegiate athletic contest, the big boys in Crimson have won more than their share.

Parker--whose name is often preceded in print by the word "legendary"--has guided the storied heavyweights for the past quarter-century. In that span, he's produced 13 undefeated crews.

In the last five years alone, Crimson eights have claimed national titles three times, in '83, '85, and '87. Eastern Sprints crowns in '83 and '85, and a victory in the grandaddy of 'em all--the Henley Regatta Grand Challenge Cup--in '85 are evidence that the Harvard heavyweight program is consistently producing top-flight crews.

Last year, Parker's varsity started brilliantly with a convincing win at the prestigious San Diego Crew Classic, only to fall into a midseason slump that reached its lowpoint with a surprising fourthplace finish at the Eastern Sprints.

A victory in the annual Harvard-Yale battle earned the Crimson an invitation to the national championship race in Cincinnati, however, and the heavies used the opportunity to regain early-season form and outdistance the powerful Brown Bruins by a scant five feet.

"We don't look much beyond the next week," Wayne says. "We approach every race as a big race."

The heavies open in Providence against Brown on April 10. The Bruins won the Eastern Sprints and the IRA championships last season, and should be among the Crimson's primary challengers again this spring.

The Crimson will then jet out to Redwood City, California for the Redwood Shores Regatta.

Cambridge-bound fans will get their first view of the heavies on April 23, when the Crimson hosts M.I.T. and Princeton on the Charles.

On April 30, Harvard sees action in Annapolis, Md., against Navy and Penn for the Adams Cup, the annual struggle between three powerhouses that Harvard hasn't won in four years.

Then it's a May 7 tune-up against Northeastern, in preparation for the crucial EARC (Eastern) Sprints on May 15 at Worcester. The Sprints determine Eastern rowing supremacy, and mark the first major regatta of the late season.

Trips to the national chamionship race at Cincinnati and the Henley Regatta in England may be forth-coming if the Crimson eight performs as well as predicted. 1988 MEN'S HEAVYWEIGHT CREW SCHEDULE

April Sun. 10  at Brown Thu. 14  at Redwood Shores Regatta Sat. 16  (Redwood City, Ca.) Sat. 23  MIT/PRINCETON Sat. 30  at Navy/Penn

May Sat. 7  NORTHEASTERN Sun. 15  at EARC Sprints (Worcester)

June Sun. 5  Yale at New London, Cn.