M. Crew Readies for Eastern Sprints

The Harvard men's crews are in the midst of their championship season, and one of the most important races of the year will take place on Sunday.

Both the heavyweight and lightweight crews will battle for the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges (EARC) title in their respective divisions, on Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester.

"This is the unofficial national championship," lightweight co-captain Tom Fallows said. "It's the most prestigious regatta to win."

The EARC is made up of the eight Ivy League schools, plus Northeastern, Rutgers, Wisconsin, Syracuse, Georgetown, Navy, B.U. and MIT.

The Crimson heavyweights will have to overcome their No. 5 ranking in USRowing's most recent national poll in order to knock off No. 2 Princeton and No. 4 Penn.

"We're just hoping to give a good showing," captain Henry Nuzum said. "Obviously, we're going in to win. Princeton has been very fast all year, and we expect them to be quick. There are definitely other crews out there who are quick."

Harvard has lost to both Princeton and Penn this season.

The Crimson fell to the Tigers by two lengths--a substantial margin--three weeks ago.

"Princeton has beaten everybody by pretty significant margins," Nuzum said. " I think if we row pretty well, hopefully we can create the outcome and put the pressure on."

Harvard lost to Penn by less than one second two weeks ago.

"We're looking to avenge that loss," Nuzum said.

Harvard will also have to hold off Nos. 6 through 9, which are Yale, Brown, Wisconsin and Northeastern, in that order.

"Brown's picked up some speed over the season," Nuzum said.

The Crimson is coming off a win over Northeastern, though, and has also beaten Brown, Navy and MIT.

Penn has beaten Columbia twice and Yale and Navy each once. The Quakers lost to the Tigers on April 10. Princeton has beaten Yale, Columbia, MIT and Cornell.

The lightweights will also have to overcome a tough Tiger team.

No. 2 Harvard has already lost to No. 1 Princeton this year. The Tigers defeated Harvard by almost five seconds in their regatta with No. 3 Yale two weeks ago.

"Everyone expects that Princeton is the crew to beat," Fallows said. " I'm sure they will [come out strong]."

The Tigers, who have not lost this season, have beaten EARC foes Georgetown, Cornell, Rutgers, Penn, Navy and Yale.

The Crimson has defeated Cornell, Penn, Dartmouth, MIT, Yale and Rutgers.

"Yale could be a contender," Fallows said. "Rutgers has been very good, too."

Harvard bested Yale by about one second and Rutgers by almost eight earlier this spring.

"We're focusing on making sure that we perform on race day as we have in practice over the last couple of weeks," Fallows said. "We've been very strong in practice."

Since the lightweights were not in action last weekend, the Crimson had extra training time.

"It meant we got to have a two-week training cycle without the disruption of a race or a weigh-in," Fallows said. "That takes a lot of energy of you. Not having a weigh-in meant we could train all of Thursday, Friday and Saturday."

All of the training that goes into the season culminates in the last few races.

"If you win Sprints, that means that you beat the other 14 other crews that day, that means a lot," Nuzum said. "That's something I wouldn't mind having bestowed upon me."