Swimmers hosting Divisionals

National qualifiers Limouze and Mercer to swim

Excitement abounds in Philips Gym, and will continue through Saturday as the North Coast Athletic Conference holds its season-end swimming and diving championships here at Oberlin. The pool has been rocking (if a liquid can be said to rock) as the Yeofish took to the lanes and the boards and, as eloquently stated by senior Scott Remley, "swam out of their heads."

Oberlin's top finishers in this, the first of three days of competition, included sending two men to the 500m freestyle finals. Seniors Jeremy Steinhauer and Matt Soellner would finish 12th and 15th respectively. Senior Clara Stemwedel would race a 5:19.45 in the women's 500 free, placing her 11th overall. First-year Celeste Mercer had another strong showing placing 9th in the 200 IM with a time of 2:14.22. Things would not fare as well for either 200m freestyle relay as the women placed seventh and the men's team was disqualified.

Among the strong finishes were the comeback stories of two team members. Junior Paul Pitcher, who has been recovering from shoulder surgery for the past three months, swam a 1:01.3 in his leg of the 400 relay en route to a sixth place finish. The men's diving team included first year Scott Saylor whose back problems had made it uncertain if he would even participate in the meet. He would place ninth in the field.

"During the last three days before the meet, people just feel like shit, you're worried about your events," Remley said. "Oberlin has a tradition of tapering before the big meet but I have never seen the team come out so strong as they did today. People were on fire."

Junior Evan Cobb was more than pleased with the first day of the meet. "People have been doing really excellent," he said, "with a lot of really huge drops in times." First year Adrienne Antoine concurred saying, "We felt prepared; Meghan [McKinnon] especially was really prepared. She's been practicing all Winter Term... and has really held the team together."

Team unity is a key to winning in any sport, but it took on an added urgency this year. The men's team suffered from a weak recruiting year with only two first years joining the squad. "We're up against two of the top ranked teams in the country in Denison and Kenyon; teams that can throw a lot of very fast people at us," said Remley. This pushed the team to work harder knowing that the men were in a rebuilding year and that the women face stiff competition from a conference in which they have consistantly finished at or near the bottom for at least six years.

The women's dive team will suffer the added handicap of not having a full compliment of divers during this tournament. Several team members lack the required minimum number of dives to compete.

When asked about how they feel the team will fare over the next two days of the meet, team members were optimistic while remaining realistic. "We're hoping for anywhere but last place," said Cobb. Currently both the men and women are seventh out of 8 teams. But "[Friday]'s a big day for a lot of the team," said Remley. "Tomorrow will be our biggest points day," he predicted. "We'll make up the most ground then."

Cobb seconded that. "Our weaker events were today. If we can keep up the momentum we had today I think we'll be fine... We have a chance to move up tomorrow in some places. Several people in individual events should place well," he said.

Key to the team's momentum will be the performance of Mercer. The first-year phenom will race in the 100 meter backstroke, the event in which she currently holds the number one ranking in the nation.

One day down and two to go. When the dust, er, mist, settles on Saturday, Denison or Kenyon will likely be crowned NCAC champs. But with a little luck, some determination, and that old standby of teamwork, Oberlin might find themselves out of the gutter and into the glory.

Clowning around: Swimmers take a breather this week. Oberlin is hosting the NCAC Divisional Swimming and Diving Championships this year topping off a successful season. (photo by Stephen Menyhart)