SPORTS

Men's swimming takes two, takes break

Two swimmers attempt to qualify for Nationals

Jeff Glickman

Junior Matt Soellner and first-year John Limouze gun for National qualifying times this weekend at Miami Invitationals.

The two have been tapering for four weeks and shaved earlier this week for the meet against mostly Division I competition. grasping for air

Teammates co-captain senior Clayton Woodson and first-year Sean Davis join the pair, but without hopes of qualifying for Nationals.

Before Thanksgiving on Nov. 21 and 22 the Yeomen won both their dual-meets meets. They beat Wittenberg University 130-87 and edged rival College of Wooster 123-110 the next day.

The team has lost once, in its first conference dual meet to Denison University but has reeled off three straight conference wins since.

After a three hour bus ride in which the team was humored by a Woody Allen flick on a bouncing little television, the team was not very enthusiastic. The Yeomen really didn't need to be, though, as they had enough of a lead to exhibit the freestyle relay final.

"We beat Wittenberg pretty handily," first-year Woody McKnight said. "They didn't have much."

Against Wittenberg, Oberlin opened up the meet with a bang, slapping the wall first in the 200-yard medley relay by only 3 hundredths of a second.

The team of senior Eric Grasha, sophomore Paul Pitcher and captains seniors Clayton Woodson and Josh Davis combined to edge out Wittenberg with a time of 1:45.16.

First-year John Limouze continued to out-muscle his competition with two victories.

He swam away with a win in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:06.71. Teammate Grasha finished second with a time of 2:13.34.

Limouze also edged out Woodson for first in the 100-yard butterfly. He then led a Yeomen sweep in the event with a time of 54.46. Woodson followed in 54.71 and senior Wayne Miller took third with a time of 57.85. This was one of two Oberlin sweeps on the day.

Junior Matt Soellner led the other Oberlin sweep in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 50.85. Junior Jeremy Steinhauer followed with a time of 52.44 and first-year Ivan DeJesus took third in 52.68.

Soellner placed second in both the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard breaststroke. He is not a sprinter but still swam a scorching 23.45 in the 50 free.

In the 100-yard breaststroke Soellner hit the wall in 1:05:43, Pitcher followed in third with a time of 1:07.99.

Diver first-year Aaron Hillyer provided the Yeomen with crucial points as he dove uncontested off both the one-meter and three-meter board. According to Hillyer his season's focus isn't on points but to improve his diving repertoire.

Hillyer began diving in competition off the three-meter board this year.

On diving from two-meters higher, Hillyer said, "It takes a lot of motivation. Just the fact of being so high and the fear going in the water flat. But I really enjoy it."

First-year Sean Davis won the 500-yard freestyle hitting the wall in 5:08.56. The Yeomen only won four of the nine individual swimming events, but took 8 of the 9 second-places. Junior Scott Remley placed third in the event with a time of 5:24.00.

Sean Davis placed third in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:57.35 and Josh Davis finished second in the event with a time of 1:52.97.

Wittenberg's star swimmer Jeff Lazarus won both events, the 200 and 500-yard freestyle. Lazarus was last year's conference swimmer of the year.

For the Yeomen, Steinhauer added to his stellar performance as he finished second in the 1000-yard freestyle at 11:00.90. DeJesus took third with the time 11:12.71.

After a good showing of the "Usual Suspects" on the ride back, the Yeomen were psyched for their meet against Wooster.

Wooster is Oberlin's closest rival both in geography and swimming ability.

The meet began with Wooster's taunting cheer "We are the winning team.[pointing at Oberlin] There is the losing team," according to McKnight. The cheer motivated Oberlin to out-swim their opponents by 13 points.

The meet came down to the 200-yard breaststroke, the second to last event.

The Yeomen were well aware that Wooster had dominated the meet in the sprint freestyle events, sweeping both the 50 and 100-yard freestyle, and knew they had no chance in the final freestyle relay.

The team relied on Pitcher and Josh Davis to secure the victory and finish the meet.

Pitcher and Josh Davis came through for the team as they blazed to first and second place finishes respectively almost ten seconds faster than their nearest rival.

The pair clocked in with times of 2:25.67 and 2:25.86.

Leading up to the breaststroke finale, Limouze had yet another outstanding performance as he was a triple winner for the Yeomen.

First, Limouze won the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:03.49.

Next, Soellner placed third in the event. After the diving break, Limouze then hydroplaned to a 1:57.85 in the 200-yard butterfly, one second off a National qualifying time. Two events later he swam a 2:02.82 in the 200-yard backstroke.

Grasha finished third in the event, hitting the wall at 2:08.41.

Soellner and Davis each earned victories for the team.

Soellner won the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:39.20. He paced along-side Sean Davis for the entire race before touching him out at the end. Davis finished second with a time of 10:40.47.

Sean Davis won the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:07.69. Steinhauer finished second in the event with a time of 5:08.56.

Josh Davis placed second in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:51.80, Steinhauer took third (1:52.71) and DeJesus finished fourth in the event with a time of 1:53.44.

Hillyer took second in both diving competitions and the opening 400-yard medley relay of Grasha, Pitcher, Woodson and DeJesus ran away with the event in 3:50.52.

"It was a good meet for us to break through and have some good swims," McKnight said. Many "thatta boy performances" were given by Head Coach Dick Michaels to swimmers for their gutsy performances.

This weekend, most of the team rests while Limouze and Soellner, smooth skinned and tapered, try to extend their season into March.


Photo:
Grasping for oxygen: With an arm tensed to pull water an Oberlin swimmer takes a breath during practice. The men's swim team earned another win this week, squeaking past Wooster. (photo by John Matney)

 

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Copyright © 1997, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 126, Number 11, December 5, 1997

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