Yeofish back in action in Miami

Last weekend 11 of Oberlin's top swimmers traveled to Oxford, Ohio to participate in the 6th annual Miami Redhawk Invitational Swimming Meet. Since 1993, Oberlin has attended this meet to try and qualify swimmers for Nationals.

The Invitational features a slew of high caliber teams. From Division I came Ohio State, Miami, Ball State and the University of Cincinnati. Division II boasted its powerhouse of Drury University. In addition to Oberlin, Division III kingpin Kenyon College brought it's might as well. So, you could say that the small team of Oberlin was a little out of its league. The meet also produced national qualifiers.

This year's National Championships will be held in Atlanta, GA at Emory University and so far, two Yeofish will be strutting to the blocks.

Sophomore sensation Celeste Mercer assured herself a place in the championships by touching the wall for the 100 backstroke in a "B" cut time of 59.14.

National cuts are ranked in two categories. An "A" cut is guaranteed a place at the championships and the "B" cuts are taken to fill up the remaining spots in the meet. The "A" cut in the 100 backstroke is 59.09. Mercer also continued her hobby of rewriting the record board and making Assistant Coach Clara Stemwedel climb up the scaffold to rearrange the numbers. Mercer broke her own record in the 50 free when she smoked the pool with a time of 24.56, beating her old record of 24.60.

Golden Boy junior John Limouze showed why he is one of the top swimmers in Division III as he flew to an "A" cut time of 1:52.45 in the 200 fly, his premiere event. The time placed him 6th at this invitational. Limouze took third at the National Championships last year where he was touched out by two tenths of a second. Limouze also swam a blistering 52.85 in the 100 fly. Look out for news of Oberlin swimmers in the spring as they defend our good name at Nationals.

The other swimmers who attended Miami fared quite well against the stiff competition. Junior Mitch Wyman stroked his way to several lifetime bests. He dropped five seconds from last year in the 100 breast to finish at a respectable 1:04.2. The women's co-captains showed why they got their titles as junior Aurelie Cabou and senior Shana Ageloff turned in impressive performances. Cabou's time of 2:06.34 in the 200 free was a season best for her. Cabou also anchored the 400 medley relay with a solid 56.77. Ageloff swam to a 1:14.97 and 2:43.01 in the 100 and 200 breastroke, nearing lifetime best times in both events.

In the sprint freestyle events senior Brian Jones and first-year Nate Fey continued to improve their season bests. Jones clocked a 22.65 in the 50 freestyle while Fey finished in 23.33. The women sprinters fared much the same as senior Amy Marquardt and sophomore Julia Handelman had impressive splits on the 200 freestyle relay. Overall the meet was an incredible success.

Junior Mitch Wyman said, "Allow me to say that, for myself and all the others involved, we were the cream of the crop and we rose to the top when we needed to."

Everybody into the pool: OC's swimmin' wimmin' (and men) have been improving steadily as the season progresses and team morale is doing swimmingly. (photo by Hadley Dick)