The women's basketball team enjoyed a storybook season during the 1998-99 campaign, setting a school record for wins and narrowly missing a berth in the NCAA Division III tournament due to a heartbreaking 75-73 overtime loss to Ohio Wesleyan University in the NCAC semifinals.
Led by first-year sensation Nzinga Broussard, whose 16.9 points per game and 102 assists were tops on a team filled with young, exciting talent, the Yeowomen amassed a 15-11 record en route to fifth-place finish in their conference. And though the women stopped just short of winning the NCAC tournament for the first time in team history, their future still looks incredibly bright.
The winter season was less than kind to the men's basketball squad, which battled its way to an unimpressive 1-23 record and a last-place finish in the NCAC conference. "
Luckily, the Yeomen pulled together to send off graduating senior John Norris with a 93-85 thrashing of Case Western Reserve in their final home game of the regular season. Norris grabbed 117 rebounds and scored 12.8 points per game during the season. "John has been a tremendous player all four years and has been the heart and soul of every team he has played for," said senior point guard Jabali Sawicki.
Despite the losses of graduating senior co-captains Clara Stemwedel and Sarah Titus, the women's swimming and diving team has quite a bit to look forward to next season. Although their squad finished seventh among the eight teams competing in the conference championships with 218 points, the Yeowomen will undoubtedly benefit from the return of promising first-years like Julia Handelman, Hannah Gottschall and Celeste Mercer.
Mercer, who was clearly the standout of the bunch, set school records in the 100 and 200 yard backstrokes, the 50 and 100 yard freestyles and participated in record breaking performances in the 200 yard freestyle relay and the 400 yard medley. For her efforts, she qualified for the NCAA Division III national championships. The women's team collectively broke 10 varsity records including all five relays.
If Mercer was the star of the women's squad, sophomore John Limouze was certainly the star men's swimming team. After a stellar season in which he dominated the 200 yard individual medley, the 200 yard backstroke and the 200 yard butterfly (winning the last at NCAC championships), Limouze qualified for nationals and placed third in the nation in the butterfly with a time of 1:50.75 - just 0.29 seconds off the winning time.
In the end, the men also finished seventh at the conference championships.
The women's indoor track and field teams delivered strong performances throughout the winter, thanks in large part to the efforts of senior Amie Ely, sophomore Liz Chandler and juniors Emily Lane and Christiana Nwofor. The talented quartet consistently outran the competition in the 800 and 1600 meter relay races during the regular season and carried their success into the NCAC championships. Their time of 1:48.17 was their best of the season and set both an Oberlin school record and a new NCAC indoor track record.
Individually, the women were just as impressive. Ely, who has worked tirelessly during the last four years to improve her running and help her team, earned top conference ranking in the 55 meter hurdles. Junior Chamia Peterson tacked on a first place finish in the long jump while Chandler snagged second in the 400m dash and third in the long jump.
All things considered, it was a remarkable season for the Yeowomen, who finished fifth at the conference championships in March.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the men's indoor track and field team, who came away with a last place finish at the conference championships, the men's season was not without its share of highlights. "What our men lacked in depth they more than made up for it with hard work and desire," Mulligan said.
During the regular season, sopho more John Rogers held the top ranking in the NCAC in the 3000 meters, and finished fourth in the event at championships, along with a fifth place finish in the 5k. Meanwhile, sophomore Zach Rudisin made a name for himself, finishing fifth in the overall standings in the 55 meter dash and closing in on the school record in that event.
Copyright © 1999, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 127, Number 25, May 28, 1999
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