Denison sinks Oberlin men's swimmers

OC hopes to get a few swimmers to national meet this spring

The men's swim team opened up its dual-meet season Saturday with a 134-87 loss to Denison University.

But winning meets isn't the most important goal for this year's Yeomen.

"Winning meets just isn't that important," captain junior Josh Davis said. "Swimming is an individual sport. It really doesn't matter how other people on the team do, just swim your best and hope they do the same."

Several individuals hope to qualify for nationals, among them sophomore Matt Soellner, first-year Paul Pitcher and junior Eric Grasha. Davis would be a likely candidate to qualify, but he's going to India over Winter Term and won't get in enough swimming to feel comfortable going, even if he qualifies in December.

"We still have a number of really good people," coach Dick Michaels said. "They either made cuts in the past or are real close. But no one is a shoe-in." The Yeomen got off to a good start against Denison. In the first event, the 400-yard medley relay, the teams were battling back and forth. Grasha swam the backstroke, first-year Paul Pitcher raced through the breaststroke leg, and captain junior Clayton Woodson swam the butterfly.

After the three swimmers the Yeomen were in third place. Then Davis, the anchor, entered the water and 48.1 seconds later he had secured a come-from behind-victory. The Yeomen won with a time of 3:44.09, finishing 0.24 seconds ahead of Denison's A team.

Sophomore Matt Soellner won the second event, 1000-yard freestyle with a 10:14.74, and sophomore Jeremy Steinhauer won the third, the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 1:48.99.

Grasha finished third in the 200 freestyle coming to the wall in 1:52.71.

After the diving break, the Yeomen held a one point lead over powerhouse Denison. This provoked the Big Red, last year's NCAA Division III runners-up, to yell at each other, "Come on guys we got to get going."

After this prodding, Denison pulled away from the Yeomen.

The Yeomen still had some drive left in them.

Soellner won the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:02.31 and junior Wayne Miller finished third.

Grasha finished second in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:04.36 and Steinhauer finished third.

Pitcher finished second in the 200-yard individual medley (IM) with a time of 2:09.68 and second in the 200-yard breaststroke.

Junior Robert Pinson finished third in the IM hitting the wall 2:15.28 after the start and third in the 100-yard free.

Davis was touched out for second place in the 50-yard freestyle by .03 seconds. He finished in 22.77. The 50 is such a fast event that the swimmers cannot get a glance of the how they are doing.

"The fans know more about what's going on in the race than the swimmers," Davis said.

The goal of a typical swimmer does not involve winning a race, but dropping time, getting to be as fast as they can get.

Several members of the men's swim team are new to swimming, first-year Tom Wadsworth, or to swimming on a competitive team, including junior Noah Kraut and first-year Chris Bedford.

"It's cool being at a Division III school, where a person can be a beginner at a sport and be on the varsity team," Michaels said. "It's fun."

"I am literally teaching people how to dive in and how to swim," Michaels said. "We are not refining things here. We are talking life-saving school."

Swimming has become more enjoyable to the swimmers ever since the men's and women's teams were integrated two years ago.

"A close-knit team and good community build up will make the swim season fun," Davis said.

The team practices intensely during their short afternoon practice and morning practices are optional. "It is a really laid-back atmosphere," Pitcher said. "Making you do your best while you're having fun."

Today the Yeomen have a meet at Ohio Wesleyan University. Saturday Baldwin-Wallace comes to Carr Pool, and next Friday the team has a meet with Wittenberg College.

Taking a dive: Swimmers get off the boards at Oberlin's opening swim dual meet Saturday against last year's national runner-up, Denison.(photo by Cristina Rudden)