Swimmers Face the Odds

Watch your head: A Yeoman diver works on his form in Carr Pool. (photo by Alyssa Tomasi)

Like with most Oberlin sports teams, the swimming and diving team didn't give up just because they were up against a team they didn't have a chance of beating. On Nov. 18 the team faced Wittenberg at Carr pool. Both the men and the women took a loss, dropping their records to 2-1 and 0-3, respectively.

"We knew that this meet was out of reach for both of our teams," Head Coach Dick Michaels said.

However, the minimal chance of a team win freed up individual swimmers to choose what events they wanted to swim.

The Yeomen had several good performances, including first place in three events and first and second in another.

First-year Burt Betchart dropped his lifetime best in one of his prime events, the 100 yard backstroke as part of the 400 yard medley relay. Betchart had never broken 58.0 for the event in high school, and had no chance to swim it since starting the season. He smashed his Personal Record by over three seconds, finishing with 55.91. He came back in the 200 IM with 2:02.29, dropping his lifetime best from 2:04+. He followed that with a 2:00.82 in the 200 back, eclipsing his former PR of 2:04+ again. Finally, he hit another PR leading off the 400 free-style relay with a 48.89.

Betchart swam four events and set a PR for himself in each. Betchart has improved his time in the 100 freestyle race every time he has swum it this year.

"[Betchart] just seems to get better every time he swims," Michaels said.

Junior Jake Schlessinger took second place in debut in the 1m diving even. Schlessinger had no diving experience at all previous to last spring. He finished behind senior teammate Aaron Hillyer, who took first in both the 1m and the 3m diving events.

Senior co-captain John Limouze had a good day as well. Before he even swam his first event, he was presented with his NCAA Championship ring by Michaels in recognition of his championship in the 200 yard butterfly last March.

Limouze's first event was the 200 butterfly. He recorded a season best of 1:58.90, 18 seconds ahead of the Wittenberg swimmer. A few events later, Limouze swam the 500 freestyle - butterfly in 5:15.95, not far behind his lifetime best for the 500 butterfly of 5:12+.

First-year Chuck Treatman turned in a 2:08.01 in the 200 backstroke for his best time of the season, and not too far away from his PR of 2:04+.

The 400 yard freestyle relay team of Betchart, Limouze, Treatman and senior Chris Dudley won the event in exhibition with a season best of 3:22.88. This was a fourth event of the day for Betchart and Dudley.

The Yeowomen came away from the competition with three first place finishes and even more excellent performances.

Junior Celeste Mercer got the 400 medley relay off to a good start with a time of 59.58 on the backstroke. Mercer had the crowd on their feet in the 200 IM as she narrowly missed yet another varsity record with a time of 2:13.94. It was a lifetime best for her, and only .03 over the record set by Jenny Kusner in 1996.

Junior Becky Ducore had a breaststroke split of 1:14.33 in the medley relay. A little later Ducore came back with 2:40.08 in the 200 yard breaststroke.

"It was two of the best times for [Ducore] since a promising freshman season, followed by a sophomore year of struggling," Michaels said. "Hopefully she has shaken last year's miseries and moved on to the next level."

Junior Hannah Gottschall had a season best in the 200 backstroke of 2:22.62.

First-year Nikki Middaugh had season best times in the backstroke with a 1:07.40 in the 100, and a 2:27.04 in the 200. Middaugh normally swims breaststroke and IM, so it was a nice change for her to swim a different set of events, and work on her backstroke for her IM.

First-year Meagan Dunphy-Daly dropped her lifetime best time in the 500 freestyle from 6:05+ her senior year in high school to 5:57+.

Overall the Oberlin team put together some great individual performances. Unfortunately, the Wittenberg team was just too strong.

The Oberlin swimmers left Thursday for this weekend's Miami Invitational.