The Crimson will compete against Brown, Navy, Syracuse and BU in its heat, but, if things go according to seeding, its biggest challenge will come from Cornell, Princeton, Northeastern and Wisconsin—the second through fifth seeds, respectively—in the final.

The Eastern championship isn’t the only honor on the line, either. With a win this weekend, either of the first two varsity boats would earn the opportunity to compete in the prestigious Royal Henley Regatta in England.

Earlier Sunday morning, the third varsity eight will have to beat either fourth-seeded Princeton, fifth-seeded Brown or eighth-seeded Penn to advance to the finals.

Both freshman eights are seeded second—the top crew behind Princeton and the second behind Navy—but, while the first boat must finish in the top two to reach the finals, the second boat needs only a top-three finish. The former will see fifth-seeded Yale, eighth-seeded Dartmouth, eleventh-seeded Wisconsin and fourteenth-seeded Syracuse in its opening race, while the latter faces third-seeded Northeastern, sixth-seeded Yale and seventh-seeded BU.

Lightweights

In contrast to the heavyweights, the Harvard lightweights, despite being the defending national champions, are decided underdogs this weekend. But the Crimson will be able to rely on its full complement of rowers—including Todd, who competed in last summer’s FISA World Rowing Championships in Lucerne, Switzerland—for the first time this season in its quest to upset No. 1 Yale.

Todd isn’t the only Crimson oarsman who appears to be healthy after struggling with injuries earlier in the year. Both junior Nick Blannin and sophomore Alex Binkley have returned to racing within the last few weeks and have seen marked improvements in their fitness of late. Todd, too, feels ready to compete.

“I’m in great shape,” he said. “I was actually kind of surprised by how quickly my body’s adapted.”

But Todd doesn’t just bring his physical prowess to the boat; his experience is also unparalleled among Harvard rowers. Indeed, he probably knows better than any other Crimson competitor what it will take to win a race of this magnitude.

“You need to execute,” he said. “But also you just need to be aggressive and attack. You can’t win a race, especially on the lightweight level, by rowing passively.”

Yet, crew, more than most other sports, relies on the unity of a team, so is it fair to look to Todd as a savior?

“We expect a lot,” co-captain coxswain Joe Finelli said. “He’s a great rower. There are seven other rowers in the boat, but it’s going to help a lot.”

“There is no doubt that Pat is an excellent rower,” sophomore Alex Binkley wrote in an e-mail. “But more importantly Pat’s return means that we have a full team again, [which] is particularly important in the middle of a race when it comes time for us to go. There will never be a doubt in any rower’s mind that we are attacking with everything and everyone we have.”

Whether Todd’s return has spurred them or not, the Harvard rowers have made significant strides recently, in part due to practicing longer pieces.