Swimming Teams Falter at NCAC Championships

Swimming Team Wraps Up Season In Frustration

by Colin M. Smith

The Oberlin swimming and diving teams attended the North Coast Athletic Conference Championship from Feb. 7 — 10. This marked the end of the season for most of the team. The women finished seventh out of eight teams and the men eighth out of nine, while both the Kenyon women and the Kenyon men finished first.

Oberlin’s overall performance was hampered by the absence of several team members — mainly due to studying away this semester. The decreased numbers cost Oberlin some points in the final standings, but Oberlin faced swimming monsters in Kenyon and Denison, two of the top swim schools in the country.

“If we were in another conference, we might win the conference,” Coach Dick Michaels said. The NCAC is perhaps the toughest Division III conference for swimming. “Every year Kenyon leaves national qualifiers behind,” Michaels said, pointing out just how deep their team is.
Individually, Oberlin swimmers turned in some fine performances. The women’s team produced five top 15 finishes, including an 11th and a 12th in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, respectively, by first-year Nicole Middaugh, who had one of her best meets. 
Middaugh also set a personal best in the 200 IM. Junior Celeste Mercer was tapering for the National Championship in Buffalo, NY in March, but still managed to place eighth in 100 backstroke and 12th in the 100 butterfly.

The men’s team produced seven top ten places, including third in the 1m dive by senior Aaron Hillyer, and first in the 200 butterfly by senior John Limouze. Limouze had already qualified for the National Championship and went into the meet unshaved. Limouze said he looked at this meet both as practice and a chance to win.

“I knew that I could win if I swam well enough,” Limouze said. “I wanted to go the time that I did.”
Limouze’s biggest competitors in the event, Carlos Vega and Tom Rushton, both of Kenyon, also went into the meet unshaved. Vega lost by only a tenth of a second.

“I’d be hard pressed to say which is better,” Limouze said of Vega and Rushton, adding that the two Kenyon swimmers and Tom Shane of Emory will provide the toughest competition at the National Championship, where Limouze won the 200 butterfly last year.

First-year Burt Betchart performed very well at the NCAC Championship, finishing fourth in the 200 backstroke and sixth in both the 200 IM and the 200 freestyle, while battling a chest cold. Betchart came close to national qualification earlier in the season, but has since been bothered by sickness. 
He will again look to qualify at the “Last Chance” Case Classic meet on Feb. 17. The meet is meant to provide swimmers with a final chance to qualify. Betchart will be joined by three other Oberlin swimmers, who are looking to log more pool time.
Going into the NCAC Championship meet Michaels had said that most of the team was looking to make best times, and the team did well in that regard.
“I told the group this was one of the best meets we’ve had in terms of improvement.” Michaels said. “I’m happy with what they did, they’re happy with what they did. End to end it was one of our best performances.”