Both the heavyweight and lightweight men’s varsity crew teams open this season in an unfamiliar position as underdogs. In years past, both teams have ruled the EARC and national stage—the heavyweights have 25 Eastern Sprints titles, the lightweights 24.

But when the Harvard crews take to the water this year, they will be looking for redemption after a 2008 season that lacked their usual displays of dominance. The heavyweight varsity eight failed to make the Grand Final of the Sprints for the first time in 44 years. Likewise, the lightweights also fell short—their varsity crew was conspicuously absent from the Grand Final for the first time in over six decades.

For the heavyweights, the Sprints result differed markedly from their performance during the rest of the season. The varsity eight went 5-1 in dual racing, falling only to Brown. At the San Diego Crew Classic—the regatta that kicked off the 2008 spring season—the heavyweight eight defeated strong Western crews from California and Stanford en route to a third-place finish. The optimistic start and consistent dual racing performances only sharpen the contrast between the beginning and end of the season for the Crimson.

“We had quite a good start [to the season],” heavyweight captain Teddy Schreck said. “We just didn’t come into the championship races with the type of momentum that would have brought us to the medal stand, which is unfortunate, because I feel at different parts of the season we were there and in good shape to be able to do that.”

After a disappointing eighth-place result at EARC Sprints and an 11th-place finish at the IRA National Championships, the varsity eight came from behind to defeat Yale in the 143rd annual Harvard-Yale Regatta. The Bulldogs—who had previously defeated Harvard at both Sprints and IRAs—held an open-water lead during the first mile of the race. But the Crimson made a move about halfway through the four-mile course to push ahead. Harvard held the lead the rest of the way, besting Yale by over seven seconds.

In addition to the strong performance at the Harvard-Yale Regatta, the freshmen crews also proved to be a source of pride for the heavyweight squad. Both freshmen eights won their Sprints finals, and the first freshman eight went on to reach the semifinals of the Temple Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta before falling to the eventual champions.

“The freshmen from last year stepping up to the sophomore role—they’ve done a tremendous job with it, and all of them are very psyched to be here,” Schreck said. “The atmosphere in the boathouse is tremendous—we’re pushing each other very hard, but at the same time we all enjoy being there, and we all enjoy spending time with each other, and that’s what eventually makes fast crews.”

The troubles that dogged the lightweight team differed substantially from those of the heavyweights. The varsity lightweight eight returned just two members of the 2007 varsity crew, and the team as a whole was composed primarily of underclassmen. The lightweight eight struggled throughout the season—defeating just Penn and MIT and ending the dual racing season with a 2-6 record.

The varsity eight placed eighth at EARC Sprints, and the uncoxed four finished third at IRA nationals. Despite its underwhelming spring, the lightweight team is optimistic that this year’s results will differ dramatically.

“I think it was a disappointing season, because we didn’t finish as well as we hoped at Sprints,” senior coxswain Kevin He said. “We don’t want to dwell on that too much. We started out at a higher level this fall than we did in the past. After all the work the guys did last year, they’re in a position to work more competitively this year.”

Like its heavyweight counterpart, the varsity lightweight team will welcome the addition of a talented sophomore class—Harvard’s freshman four was the highest-placing lightweight four in its field at the IRAs. Additionally, the team will welcome back senior Moritz Hafner, who spent the last year training with the Swiss national team.

“The program has a completely different feel so far this year,” lightweight captain Jeff Overington said. “We’re working a lot harder, and the team is more motivated as a whole.”

—Staff writer Lucy D. Chen can be reached at lucychen@fas.harvard.edu.