Ultimate perfection

Last year Oberlin's Ultimate Frisbee team, the Flying Horsecows, closed their season at College Nationals playing against the 11 top teams in the country. However, as any one of the Horsecows would be quick to point out, that was last year. "This year's a whole new team," said junior co-captain Adam Fagin of the Horsecows. This was proven through the game play at the annual Toledo Indoor Tournament on Saturday .

The change is not initially apparent looking at the results of Toledo, where the Horsecows rose to victory. But looking deeper than the final result, the new lineup passed the first test of spring by improving on the 4-1 record last year's squad racked up. They went 5-0 and took home their second consecutive championship, despite a dangerous combination of aggressive teams and hard floors.

The first game the Horsecows played was against Michigan State University's Ultimayhem. A consistently moving Oberlin offensive led to a quick 9-5 victory over MSU, but the 'Cows then had to wait for their next game during the hour-long bye, caused by having only one field and six teams to compete on. By the time the games of hangman were over and complimentary bagels and brownies were eaten, Oberlin was more than ready for their next contest.

Second up was Ohio State University's Leadbelly. They were dispatched quicker than Ultimayhem, partially due to the power of the Horsecows' intense defense, in particular junior Matt Meisenhelder's mutiple layout blocks. The depth of Oberlin's team was also proven against Ohio State, and many of the younger 'Cows capitalized on Leadbelly's team.

The 'Cows third game was with the University of Michigan, and proved to be the most detrimental to the team. Early in the game, one of Michigan's players, possibly inspired by Tim Biakabatuka's running style, ran through first-year Dave "Smith" Wilson while attempting a defensive play. The result was Wilson being taken to the hospital by co-captain junior Tim Learmonth.

Sparked by the loss of two essential players, and the explosive play of sophomore Jim Woodroffe, Oberlin went on to trounce the Michigan team by a score of 10-5.

During the hour bye which followed the Michigan game members of Oberlin's team travelled with ex-Horsecow Jay Whittaker OC '94 to Toledo's hospital to investigate the extent of Wilson's injury. Fortunately, his injury was limited to his fingers and the well-wishers left as the doctor was about to plaster his hand. All were relieved and able to focus on other items. "This place looks nothing like the show," said Whittaker of the appearance in Toledo's emergency room.

Next on the agenda came the Horsecows closest brush with failure, at the hands of the skilled, but short-numbered University of Manchester. Manchester's Poison Frogs were able to consistently and smoothly work the disc up, down and around the Horsecows for nearly the entire first half. After the start of the second half the 'Cows started to regain their focus and score consistantly against the Frogs.

The return of Wilson from the hospital brought both good and bad news. Wilson had two broken fingers that would require surgery, but the 'Cows had their co-captain back. Oberlin was able to even the score at 8-8 as time ran out, driving the game into sudden death overtime on the back and in the hands of junior Ben "XXXX" Garthwait and a patent pending end zone play.

Once into overtime, the Horsecows quickly moved up the field, pushed the Frogs back to the end zone, and ran the now patent holding "Taco Bell" end zone play, finshing the game off. The win lifted them to 4-0, assuring a spot in the championships.

After Manchester came another hour-long bye, during which the 'Cows rested up for the championship game against the University of Toledo in various ways, including enjoying the massages thoughtfully made possible by the University of Toledo's physical therapy students.

Toledo's Disc-I's were the last obstacle between Oberlin and a 5-0 record and some nifty looking plaques. Even though Toledo brought out all their big guns early in the game, including many players with years and years of experience, they too fell quickly to Oberlin's multifaceted offense, complete with hammer throws and the ever feared push pass.

"Once we got our flow on," said Garthwait looking back on the tournament, "no one was able to shut it down." "Yeah," agreed Learmonth, running with the metaphor. "None of those teams had corks big enough to shut down our flow."