Swimmers Get Wet

Most Oberlin students dread the approaching wet season, but not some. The Oberlin College swimming and diving team can't wait to dive right in. On Saturday they will travel to Kenyon for the NCAC relays.

The men's team is unfortunately lacking in numbers. They only have 15 members, two of which are divers and the rest are swimmers. This was a little unsettling especially when four team members didn't show up at Oberlin, dropping the team to its current size. One of those was a talented first-year recruit that decided to go elsewhere. The other three were upperclassmen that didn't return for one reason or another.

"We're a little better," said Head Coach Dick Michaels. "I think our talent level is a little higher than it was last year."

The women's team fares a little better as far as numbers go with 25 members.

"We have a pretty good and pretty large first-year class of women," said Michaels.

Earlier this month Oberlin had its pentathlon, which is a serious of five events ‹ 50m free, 50m fly, 100m back, 100m breast, and 200m free ‹ just for Oberlin in order to rank and assess the team. The obvious standouts were senior John Limouze and junior Celeste Mercer. Limouze was last year's national 200m fly champion. Mercer last year won All-American ‹ the first to win such in the history of women's swimming at Oberlin. Mercer broke four of the six records possible.

On Saturday the team doesn't look to fare all that well. The relays will be mainly sprinting events, which have been a weakness in the past, according to Michaels.

"We'll definitely beat some people, but how far I don't know," Michaels said. "This is not exactly our strong point."

The men will face eight other teams and the women will face seven, and none of them will be easy. "This conference is far and away the best Division III conference in the nation," said Micahels. "We can do very well and still be way down in this league."

In a sport where individual performance is the most important aspect, the quality and even quantity of team members counts. The men are currently on a down cycle according to Micahels. Hopefully the increased talent base can help change that around.

"We have some very strong individuals," Michaels said. "[First-year] Burt Betchart could possibly be a national caliber guy."

The team focuses a lot on personal improvement especially for the conference championship."It would be nice if I dropped a lot of time and surprise a lot of time," said Betchart. "There are a lot of people on the team who aren't fully developed and stand to drop a lot of time."