Instead, each is focusing on the individual challenge that lies ahead—earning one of those coveted spots on the early team to beat.
“What’s most important this year is that none of those six guys [from last year] is sitting cool and confident in his seat,” Mercaldi said. “It’s going to benefit us a ton. I’d say that right now, this year, we have an especially deep program and guys right through who are between the 2V and the 3V now but might have a shot at the varsity in the spring.”
With that kind of pressure in Newell Boathouse, you can bet there’ll be quite a few rowers hitting the ergometers a little harder before the ice melts in April. But after the final roster is set and the first weekly boat is posted, they’ll be teammates shooting for a title together once more.
“When you have fast guys around you, it makes you more confident,” Mercaldi said. “They’re your teammates and you’re going into battle with them.”
With the assemblage of talent massed across the river from Harvard yard, the opening salvo this weekend should be quite a sight.
—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.