Women's swimming and diving ups team size to 17

The women's swimming team is hoping its gain of five swimmers will be enough to give it some of the team victories that have been rare over the past few years.

The team's first meet, however, wasn't a good venue for judging the new talent because the competition, Denison University, was the third place team at the NCAA Division III Championships last March.

The Big Red outswam the Yeowomen 145-65 though many Yeowomen swam well.

Oberlin's only first-place finish came from 1-meter diver junior Hannah Borthwick against Denison. Borthwick's score of 210.25 was a personal best.

The team isn't distraught, though, about being blown out by a national-caliber team. The Oberlin squad is expecting improvements due to the increased numbers, though the team lost two of its speediest swimmers when Jenny Kusner and Grace Davenport graduated in May.

But the 1996-97 edition of the Yeowomen is larger by five swimmers than it was a year ago. Seventeen swimmers and two divers, coach Dick Michaels said, is the perfect size for a team. With fewer swimmers, the team can't put many swimmers in each event; with more, swimmers don't get to compete as much.

A pair of the returners already hold Oberlin records. Sophomores Clara Stemwedel and Sarah Titus were part of the 400-yard medley and 800-yard freestyle relay teams that broke school records last year.

Of the seven first-years on the team, one of the fastest, Michaels said, is Andrea Lindborg, who has never swum with a team before.

Michaels said that some of Lindborg's high school times in the Marshall Islands were close to the national qualifying times.

The team's focus, as always, is not on the early-season matches but rather hving a championship team. Last year, the team tied for last in the NCAC championships, but that was an improvement from the previous few years, when they'd occupied the last spot alone.

Last year, the team also won three dual meets - the only three dual meets in the careers so far for senior captains Pritham Khalsa and Kerri Sutton.

"The end is really what counts because that's when we taper," Stemwedel said.

There were some solid performances in the opening meet for the Yeowomen.

Stemwedel finished second in the 1,000-yard and 500-yard freestyle. First-years Julie Fritz and Shana Ageloff finished third in the 200-yard individual medley and 200-yard breaststroke.

Against Denison last weekend, Sutton had a personal best in the 50 and 100-yard freestyle races. She said the difference is probably partially attributable to a summer of weight lifting.

Sutton said her goals for the year are to swim better than she has in the past and to help the team to a season with at least as many victories as it had last year.

Michaels said that despite the increased numbers on the team, it's still too early for the team to expect to vie for championships. "We've got a long ways to go before we are competitive in this conference," he said.

Team members, though, say the team is working hard.

"It's going to be a good season as a far as attitude goes and everybody's swimming well," Sutton said.