PREVIEW: ‘Underdog’ Looks to Erase Doubts

New faces, new season—same results.

Such has been the trend for the Harvard varsity heavyweights throughout their illustrious three-year run, during which the Crimson has captured three varsity Sprints titles, three second varsity Sprints titles, and three varsity national titles. Throughout the stretch, Harvard has never so much as taken second place in a single race.

And unlike last season, when the Crimson returned just two oarsmen from the previous year’s boat, Harvard will return six members from its IRA-champion boat of 2005. More experienced, seasoned, and accustomed to one another, this year’s varsity eight seems primed for what has become an eerily consistent dismantling of the EARC field.

So why does the latest USRowing national poll list Harry Parker’s Crimson at No. 3?

“We’re in the underdog position yet again, because we lost two great rowers in Malcolm [Howard] and Aaron [Holzapfel],” captain Morgan Henderson said. “The feeling is sort of similar to last season.”

Last year, Harvard entered the season at No. 4, with an emphatic open-water victory over Princeton catapulting the Crimson into the nation’s top spot for the rest of the year. A Sprints victory over the Tigers and another win over Princeton at IRAs secured Harvard’s EARC and national dominance for another season.

But this season carries with it some of the lingering doubts that cropped up before the beginning of last year, when Harvard appeared too young and inexperienced to continue its dominance. Howard and Holzapfel—who finished their varsity careers undefeated last year—anchored the 2005 eight, and their absence will be felt.

And that Princeton crew that kept coming up frustratingly short last year? The Tigers were No.1 to start the season, and Princeton showed all of its muscle in a dominant performance at the Head of the Charles Regatta in the fall. The Tigers’ varsity entry consists of eight seniors—almost all of whom raced in the varsity eight that fell to Harvard three times last year.

“It [the Princeton race] is sort of on the back of everyone’s mind,” Henderson said. “And they’ve known their lineup for the entire year because they have so many seniors.”

Princeton last beat Harvard in a 2001 dual race in New Jersey, and the two teams will meet up on April 16th in their first showdown since last season’s IRA final. The Crimson has not surrendered a dual race since its defeat to Princeton five seasons ago and has not lost to the Tigers on the Charles since Parker became head coach in 1963. Still, No. 1 Princeton will likely be the favorite in the season’s early matchup.

“We’re still the underdog,” junior Andrew Boston said. “It’s just an entirely different season—last year, it was a different boat, a different feel. We know what we have to do and we’ve got a lot of work to go before we accomplish our goals.”

That different look has given Harvard much more depth in its varsity program than Harvard had last year. In