Spring Sports

The women's outdoor track and field team had an outstanding conference meet, recording their highest finish ever at third place. The team won eight events while no other team won more than three. The key to the team's success lay in the sprints-Oberlin won every individual or relay sprint event aside from the 400m dash. The women were led by Nzinga Broussard's victories in the 100 and 200m dashes, and Amie Ely's record-setting six first-place place finishes. The 4x100 relay team set a new school record, Broussard's 200m race set a meet record and Ely set conference and school records in the 400m hurdles and heptathalon. She qualified for nationals in the latter [see story page xx].

"We had a talented group who came together and performed at the highest level on championship weekend," said coach Tom Mulligan. Virtually the same group will be intact next year as Ely and Cindy Lai are the only two seniors.

The women's lacrosse team had a strong season (10-7 total; 5-2 in the NCAC) capped by an appearance at the conference finals in Wittenberg. Oberlin fell to Denison 16-8 in the championship game, ending its comeback season.

The team received stellar support from senior midfielder Kim Allen. Allen, who was the NCAC Offensive Player of the Year, ended the season with 62 goals and a points per game average of 4.59, second only to Denison's Laura Peace in both categories. Other standout players during the regular season and NCAC tournament included junior attacker Lydia Ries, with a total of 54 goals this season, and senior midfielder Cecily Beane.

With the departure of seniors Allen and Beane, team leaders in assists and all-around powers on offense during the 1999 season, and with the resignation of coach Mindy Manolovich, much to the disappointment of many in Oberlin athletics, the team will find itself a very different team next spring.

It was simply a case of too little, too late for the Oberlin men's baseball team this year. Winning five of its last seven games could do no more than bring the team's record to 6-28 (2-14 in the NCAC). "We lost nine games by three runs or less," said Head coach Eric Lahetta, "which is encouraging, but also heart breaking."

The Yeomen will be losing team leaders both on and off the field with the graduations of Dave Schummers and Carson Keeble. "Dave has supplied our team with offense for much of the last three years. His bat and leadership will be missed greatly. Carson put together probably the best single season performance for a pitcher in the decade," Lahetta said.

Perhaps it was the lack of similar platitudes from their coach that held the men's lacrosse team back this year, but more likely it was their lack of offense. The Yeomen averaged only four goals a game in each of their 11 losses while their opponents scored in the double digits each time, scoring 15 or more all but twice. Oberlin's two victories on the season, both over Marietta College in Ohio, were resounding ones. OC won 19-5 in their first meeting, and defeated their 0-12 opponent 14-9 in the second contest despite missing several key players.

Back on the track, the men's outdoor track and field team struggled due to small numbers, but never gave up the fight. "The guys had a very solid outdoor season," Mulligan said "They really came on as the season progressed and ran very well in May." Senior Gil Saenz won the conference in the 400m hurdles and David Bevacqua came in third in the steeplechase. The 4x100 relay surprised many as it narrowly missed third.

Co-captains Saenz and Sean Wesolowski will leave large shoes to fill upon their graduation this year.

On the clay, the women's tennis team pulled out a solid sixth place finish at NCAC championships following a 15-8 season (6-2 in conference). Senior Leigh Ann Totty and junior Jill Brockleman led the team with identical 15-8 match records.

Totty and her doubles partner Tara Sievers will be the big losses for the team. Fortunately, Brokleman and sophomore Claudia Martinez-both all-NCAC second teamers- should have little trouble stepping into the vacated spots.

The men's tennis team won't be as lucky come next year. Jed Greenberg, the team's only all-NCAC player, will be graduating and the team will likely have difficulty improving on their 6-20 record (1-7 in the NCAC). Oberlin trounced OWU four matches to one at the conference championships to finish seventh overall.

The Yeomen will lose their number two and three players as well, which is bad news for an already understaffed team. Those remaining do provide a strong nucleus that lost its matches by an average of only 3.32 games each.