Although it hasn't raced competitively since May 7, the top-ranked Radcliffe heavyweight crew (8-0 overall) is still favored to capture the Eastern Sprints Sunday on Lake Waramaug in New Preston, Conn.

And although the Radcliffe lightweight four (2-0) hasn't raced that much this season, the Black and White will be trying to regain the Sprints title it lost last season.

Both crews entered last year's Sprints as defending champions, but left as defending second-place finishers. The heavies lost to Brown by two seconds, while the lights couldn't match the University of Cinncinnati.

This year, the results could be different. Especially for the heavies, whose closet margin of victory over an Eastern team was a three second win over Princeton at the Redwood Shores Regatta in mid-April.

The Black and White last raced against Boston University, trouncing the Terriers by 19 seconds on the choppy waters of the Charles.

Add another 19-second Case Cup win over Yale April 29, and Radcliffe's chances at Sprints are as good as the Los Angeles Lakers' shot at taking another NBA title.

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Only Brown remains on Radcliffe's list of crews to defeat this season. A win over the defending champs, as well as other top Eastern crews, and the Black and White will earn its second Sprints title in three years and fourth since 1974.

The lightweight four, which snagged the 1986 and 1987 Sprints titles before last year's loss to Cinncinnati, hasn't raced since it easily defeated MIT and Wellesley on April 22.