Virtually the entire Harvard crew program will drive west to Worcester’s Lake Quinsigamond tomorrow for Sunday’s Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges (EARC) Sprints Championships, but the No. 3 heavyweights and the No. 7 lightweights will be facing diametrically opposed situations in their quests for the Eastern title.

The challenge for the heavyweights is simply to live up to expectations, as each of the Crimson’s three varsity eights holds the top seed entering the weekend. Indeed, Harvard’s top two boats are undefeated this season, while the 3V has yet to lose to another 3V.

The lightweights, though, are hoping to sneak up on people, as the first and second crews are seeded seventh and fifth, respectively. Still, the Crimson receives a tremendous boost with the return of co-captain Pat Todd, who has been sidelined all season by a back injury.

Heavyweights

The clear-cut favorites entering the weekend, the Harvard heavyweights will risk their unblemished mark against several strong crews, including Northeastern, Wisconsin, Princeton and Cornell—the second, third, fourth and fifth seeds, respectively, in the first varsity race. The Crimson’s top boat beat the Tigers by six seconds on April 20 to take the Compton Cup and defeated the Huskies by 2.8 seconds two weekends ago to earn the Smith Cup, but it has yet to see either the Badgers or the Big Red.

On paper, the first varsity eight should have no trouble placing in the top two in its heat against sixth-seeded Penn, seventh-seeded Brown, twelfth-seeded Syracuse and thirteenth-seeded Rutgers to qualify for the finals. The Crimson outraced the Quakers by 8.36 seconds and beat the Bears by 4.5 seconds in its first two races of the season. And Harvard has only gotten better, although it still must guard against overconfidence.

“We’re pretty pleased with how things have been going,” captain Wayne Pommen said. “We feel like we’ve only been getting faster, so we’re feeling confident, but we also know it’s a pretty tough race to win.”

Indeed, being the top seed paints a giant bulls-eye on the Crimson’s collective back.

“There are a lot of crews that are setting their sights on us,” Pommen said. “With the league as competitive as it is, you’ve got to be able to put together a great race. If you falter, somebody else is going to catch you.”

The second boat, though, is looking at the top seed as an advantage.

“It’s nice to be ranked first,” sophomore Will Riffelmacher said. “All the other crews are worrying about your speed and you just have to go out and row as well as you can.”

“I’d rather have the opposition thinking about us than about themselves,” sophomore Justin Webb added.

Yet, Harvard’s success might be something of a mixed blessing.

“We’re obviously happy with the performance this season so far,” Webb said. “Along with that, there’s a bit of pressure and nervousness to perform well.”