The Oberlin Review \\ Commencement 1998

<body bgcolor="ffffff" link="669999" vlink="666699"> <map name="header_map_type1"> <area shape="poly" coords="9,33,28,8,28,58" target="main_window" href="../sports_review.html" onMouseOver="window.status='Go to the Sports Contents page'; return true"> <area shape="poly" coords="244,8,244,58,264,33" target="main_window" href="../ncac.html" onMouseOver="window.status='Go to the Next page in Sports'; return true"></map> <IMG SRC="../../commencement_graphics/masthead_sports_review.gif" alt="SPORTS...THE YEAR IN REVIEW" WIDTH="926" HEIGHT="75" BORDER="0" align=left usemap="#header_map_type1"><br clear=all><br>   <h1>Club Sports Year in Review</h1>  <p>From finances to maintaining numbers, Oberlin's club sports have their hands filled before even dealing with the intercollegiate competition. Whether it's packing absurd (and/or illegal) amounts of people into cars and driving across country for competition, playing in games where the conditions are more of the opponent than the other team, jumping through the hoops of creating and housing tournaments or producing national quality athletes, the line between the varsity and the club players is one that is often quite thin. <p>The bottom line rules over all, whether it be behind gas money, retention of coaches and advisors, funding for tournaments, housing on the road, supplies, etc. All five of the club teams below had seasons that were good overall, and all seem to be setting up the blocks for further improvement in '98-'99 seasons. <p>Over the course of this year, all five of these club teams have shown that they have perseverance, and often the financial know-how to get from Oberlin to wherever their sport may take them. <p> <hr><br> <font size=+1><B>Fencing</B></font> <p>This year proved to be one unsurpassed in ambition for Oberlin's fencing club. <p>They hosted two tournaments, despite communication problems with the athletic department about space availability, and also are now under the tutelage of Gasparain, the former Hungarian Olympic fencing coach. <p>They've been paying Gasparain out of club funds and hope to be able to keep him aboard in the future. One of his Cleveland based students went to the Worlds fencing tournament and took sixth place in the under 20 division, and Oberlin is hoping to catch some of a benefits of his coaching. <p>Oberlin has also been able to boost their own numbers through the fencing ExCo, taught by seniors Gavin Malcolm and Ben Hellerstein. <p>In their last tournament, a team competition held in Cleveland late in the spring semester, Oberlin sent an "A" team and a "B" team. They placed fourth and sixth out of the six teams in attendance, respectively. <p> <hr><br> <font size=+1><B>Equestrian</B></font> <p>The funding required to take a full complement of riders to tournaments means fewer tournaments throughout the course of a year. Oberlin's Equestrian team sent people to five two day tournaments, with each day counting as an individual tournament. The Equestrian team tied for Reserve High Point champion at an early tournament in Miami University of Ohio, and took Reserve High Point champion at a tournament at Lake Erie College in the beginning of the spring. The tournaments were also not always at the most convenient times, with one at the ends of both fall and spring break, but in the end it proved to be quite beneficial. Four riders won spots at Regionals, first-year Allison Matthews, junior Katayoon Hodjati, junior Audrey Wasser, and senior Jessica Pittman, with Matthews taking second at Regionals and going on to the National tournament. <p>Due to obvious logistical problems the Equestrian team has to travel 13 miles away to get any riding time in for practice (it's really hard to keep horses on campus), with a minimum of one practice a week, although many opt for more. As far as the cash flow, they are funded by SFC and individuals kick in what they can to get the team from one place to another. <p> <hr><br> <font size=+1><B>Men's Ultimate</B></font> <p>This year was an inadvertent building year for the Flying Horsecows. They almost built themselves into the upper echelon of collegiate Ultimate in an attempt to make up for lost players and general strife from a year's worth of ups and downs. Some of the valleys included captain Jim Woodroffe becoming Oberlin's token ultimate knee injury when he blew his ACL in a spring practice. Junior Scott Houghtling was kept out of many early spring tournaments with mononucleosis. During college Regionals, junior Sandy Bilus suffered a concussion during the first day, keeping him out of play for the rest of the tournament, and sophomore Todd Daloz was felled by a hip injury against the University of Madison on the final day of the tournament. Peaks were a strong showing despite a lack of numbers in a late spring tournament at Yale. The Horsecows' winning the college sectional tournament for Ohio/Kentucky the weekend before regionals. Overall, the team continued to rack up the traveling miles, heading to North Carolina, South Carolina, Michigan, southern Ohio and Connecticut. <p>The Horsecows lost to Iowa University in the game to go to college nationals, 15-6, ending their '98 season with more of a whimper than a bang. However, they will only be graduating five seniors, and next year will have mind bogginglly large senior and sophomore classes to aid their quest for Nationals. <p> <hr><br> <font size=+1><B>Women's Ultimate</B></font> <p>The Praying Manti had a year in which they fell short of the heights achieved during the '96-'97 season, but also were able to boost membership and begin setting the foundations for future seasons. The team started off trying to deal with a mass exodus of players who had helped take the team to college nationals the year before. <p>A number of people went abroad to various parts of the globe, but by a couple of months into the fall season, the number had been bolstered by a bumper crop of first-years and new players, again bolstered in the spring by strong recruits from soccer and field hockey teams. They kicked off the spring with a home tournament, where they took on teams from the area including Ohio University and the University of Michigan. <p>The Manti lost to Madison during Regionals, knocking them out of contention for a spot to regionals early. Next year the recruitment process will be bolstered by the returns of players from abroad as the Manti increase their strength in the central region. <p> <hr><br> <font size=+1><B>Women's Rugby</B></font> <p>The women's rugby team never had to worry about having too few people to field a team. Through the ExCo taught by the team, and general recruitment in the fall, the Rhino Ruggers were able to amass a large army early in the year. This number was whittled down to a smaller army of 34 tough-as-hell women in the spring. The large number enabled the group to be able to split up into two teams, which allowed the veteran players to work with one another in game situations as well as giving the newer players experience against other teams. Their final record for the spring was 7-2, with the highlight being a second place finish out of all the women's teams in Ohio at a Columbus tournament. Many of the club sports have had spotty relations with the Athletic Department in the past. This year the Ruggers were able, by fighting tooth and nail, to get the college to help pay for the mid-West, National, and personal dues each player owed, to get real goal posts for their fields, and to have their home turf on north fields lined. Possible liabilities next year include the loss of 10 graduating seniors, but the remaining players and the potential recruits next year should more than make up for the loss. <p> <hr><br> <B>Clubbing across the country:</B> These pictures of club sports in action are from a yearÕs worth of competition. (file photos) <p>All stories compiled by Nachie Castro. Nachie is a member of OberlinÕs Ultimate Frisbee team and a copy editor for <i>The Oberlin Review</i>.   <P><center><a target="main_window" href="../sports_review.html" onMouseOver="window.status='Go to the Sports Contents page'; return true">Back</a> // <a target="main_window" href="../sports.html" onMouseOver="window.status='Go to the Sports Contents page'; return true">Sports Contents</a> \\ <a target="main_window" href="../ncac.html" onMouseOver="window.status='Go to the Next page in Sports'; return true">Next</a></center> <hr><font size=+2><center><b><nobr><tt>T H E   O B E R L I N   R E V I E W</tt></nobr></b></center></font><hr> <center><P>Copyright © 1998, <A target=top href="../Default.html">The Oberlin Review</A>.<BR>Volume 126, Number 24, May 22, 1998<BR> <p>Contact us with your <a target=_top href="http://www.oberlin.edu/~ocreview/feedback.html">comments and suggestions</a>.</center> </BODY>