The men's heavyweight crew finds itself in an uncharacteristic position this weekend--that of underdog. Harvard can finish its up-and-down season on a high note by capturing a fourth straight Eastern Sprints title.

No place has been kinder or more welcoming to the Harvard varsity heavyweights than Lake Quinsigamond.

In four years, the Crimson first- and second-varsity boats have amassed seven Sprints championships, including three consecutive wins for the varsity from 2003 to 2005.

Now, however, the Harvard varsity finds itself in an all-too familiar place but with an altogether new label at this year’s Sprints: that of underdog, one Harvard had shed in time to take the No. 1 seed into Sprints a year ago. The 2005 squad blitzed the field during the dual season to snatch the No. 1 ranking in the weeks before Sprints.

This dual season was less dominant and more tumultuous, marked both by brilliance in bad weather and an uncharacteristic letdown in the final 20 strokes against Brown.

With two dual losses, the Crimson varsity is seeded third behind favorite Princeton and Brown, the surprise of the dual season. Brown ousted Harvard by a seat in a come-from-behind win in Providence, and the Tigers dismantled the Crimson in one of their many open-water wins of the season.

“At the beginning of the season, we’re ranked fourth or fifth, and then we work our way up,” said sophomore varsity four-seat Joe Medioli. “But we’re still the underdog, and it’s better to go in with that excitement and look to face somebody ranked higher than come in overconfident and expectant.”

The Crimson varsity has survived personnel changes and injuries, dual losses and snapped streaks, but an auspicious end to the dual season and past successes at Eastern Sprints make this Sunday the right time to be the underdog for Harvard.

“We haven’t really focused on how everybody else is going to be, to be honest,” sophomore varsity stroke George Kitovitz said. “We’re just trying to play our own game now, and the important thing is not to underestimate anyone.”

Eastern Sprints also gives Harvard its first glimpse at Wisconsin, ranked No. 4 in the EARC for both the varsity and second varsity races.

“We’re definitely prepared—we know that Wisconsin will be a big, big challenge,” said second varsity coxswain Amanda Caplan. “Everybody is going to show up with their game faces on.”

For the Harvard varsity, the 2006 Sprints race is a chance to add a fourth consecutive Sprints crown to the trophy cabinet, something no crew has done since the Crimson did so in 1977. In the 60-year history of the regatta, only Harvard has claimed four consecutive Sprints titles—a feat the Crimson has accomplished twice.

Standing in the way, however, is a senior-laden Princeton varsity that has spent the last three seasons just one boat out of first place. The Tigers’ dual victory over Harvard in April was the first win for the varsity since 2001, and Princeton demolished dual competition in a blur of lopsided open-water wins.

But Harvard has had three weeks to fine-tune, seat race, and harness speed—a luxury that is impossible in the back-to-back frenzy of dual season. A series of lineup changes and substitutions due to injury have left Harvard with different lineups, a move both boats credit to increased speed and improved rhythm in the weeks leading up to Sprints.

“As much as it’s easy to look at rankings and times between races, the sheer number of changes and what can happen from beginning to end shows you that you can’t expect anything,” Medioli said. “Everything’s changed. We’ve got to go in with the excitement and the belief that we’re going to race really well and really hard.”

The Crimson varsity primed itself for Sprints with two dominant open-water wins over Navy and Penn and then Northeastern to close out the dual season.

And the Harvard second varsity enters the weekend with an undefeated dual season record and an untested No. 1. The Crimson second varsity eight won every dual race by open water, never had contact with a boat after the 1000, and dispatched No. 2 Northeastern by two boat lengths the final weekend of the season.

Still, the Crimson expect its toughest challenge from Wisconsin, and a speedier Princeton boat as well as a very talented crew from Northeastern will make for a contested finish at Lake Quinsigamond. The Huskies’ lone dual loss of the season came to Harvard on the final day of the season.

A season of lopsided dual wins augurs well, but the three weeks of preparation and the six-across start leave the winner’s dock wide open to upsets.

“We really don’t expect anything,” said second varsity coxswain Amanda Caplan. “I think that despite Harvard’s wild success in the last three years, our crews have not ever gone into Sprints thinking ‘We’re going to sweep.’ We always go in with the sense that we have to do our best and nothing short of that will do.”

—Staff writer Aidan E. Tait can be reached at atait@fas.harvard.edu.