Spring Sports in Review

Spring brings with it thoughts of love, the return of the sparrows and the blooming of crocuses. It also has a tendency to bring a clash of titans in the form of the NCAA women's lacrosse championship. This year was no different as Oberlin and arch-rival Denison faced off for the third consecutive season and fifth time overall. The match was one to remember, as scoring and momentum seesawed, neither side refused to give ground, and the Big Red won a heartbreaker, scoring with two seconds left in the second overtime period.

The Yeowomen took to the fields under a new coach this season. Mindy Manolovich, who led Oberlin to three conference championship games and two titles in her three years as head coach, resigned to be closer to her family. Thus new head coach Liz Graham was left with some big shoes to fill. She didn't disappoint, leading Oberlin to a 7-5 (6-1 NCAC) record and a second-seed in the NCAC tournament.

With the NCAC champion now granted an automatic NCAA tourney bid, the Yeowomen will be even hungrier to take back their crown next season. But they'll have to deal with losing the services of several outstanding members. All-NCAC first-teamers Lydia Ries and Maggie McFalls and fellow co-captain Irit Altman all graduate this year, leaving another young team with thinner veteran leadership than they might like.

From little acorns do mighty oaks grow and Oberlin's baseball team got an acorn this year, improving their win total by one over last year's dismal 6-24 season. Although the team might have expected a greater improvement, the one game improvement must be taken with a grain of salt. Gone are fifth-year Carson Keeble and Dave Schummers (OC '99) who made the train go last spring.

This year's seniors picked up the reins and played up to their own expectations. Matt Burns won four games and Andy Smith carried much of the offensive load throughout the second half of the season. Aggressiveness was also a key as Smith, junior Chris Irish and first-year Zach Pretzer all landed in the top ten in the conference in steals.

This year was one of the strongest recruiting classes in recent memory. 16 players are committed, including a fireballing lefty and a stout backstop to soothe OC's young, but promising, staff. These are bright times indeed for the Oberlin Nine.

The women's tennis team started the season strong with a six-match win streak, and they ended it even stronger with a third place finish in the NCAC tournament. The team marched to a 16-9 (6-2 in NCAC) record and a third seed in the tournament behind captain junior Beth Krupski and senior Jill Brockelman. This was also the first year an Oberlin women's tennis team qualified for the Midwest Regional tournament.

In her first year with the team sophomore Sarah Jesse destroyed her competition en route to an 18-2 overall match record (5-1 in NCAC) to sit atop the conference rankings in singles play. First-year Alaina Fotiu-Wojtowicz helped deepen an already stocked team and was mentioned again and again by her teammates for her drive and dedication.

As the 2000 tennis season draws to a close, things look good for Oberlin, and, with the addition of a few other strong role players, or perhaps that elusive strong doubles tandem, the Yeorackets won't be taking any prisoners come 2001.

Health and numbers issues carried over from the indoor season and left the men's outdoor track and field team with nowhere to go but up. Prospects for doing just that are emerging by the day, however, as a team that can only be described as young continued to improve all season and lay the groundwork for next year.

The Yeorunners struggled at times to even put full relay teams together, and an injury to junior co-captain Zach Rudisin slowed them whenever they did run. Oberlin would wind up limping to last place at the NCAC meet. The steady improvement of first-year Steffon Thomas and sophomore Tim Salazar, and the continued success of junior distance runners John Rogers and David Bevacqua did give Rudisin hope. "Our team is growing," said Rudisin. "We've just got to get these guys in shape, get 'em ready to run, and we'll be cooking."

On the individual front, several members had career years in winning various events. Bevacqua made the 3000m steeplechase his event, winning it at NCAC championships as well as at the All-Ohio meet against competitors from over 20 other schools. Bevacqua was within four seconds of qualifying for nationals by season's end. Junior Andre Street fell in as the other consistent power on the team, winning the 800m at various events, including championships.

Coming off of an indoor campaign that found the Yeorunners taking second at NCAC championships, expectations were high for the women's outdoor track and field team. With the emergence of scoring threats from the distance runners, Oberlin seemed to have the complete package to again challenge for the outdoor title. It would not come to pass, as the bible might say, as a missed handoff in the 4x100 relay and a few lower than expected finishes dropped the ladies to fourth, just ahead of rival Wooster.

First-year Courtney Stackhouse continued her domination of the short sprints by capturing both the 100 and 200m titles at outdoor championships. She broke the conference 200m record set by sophomore Nzinga Broussard, the reigning champ in both events, last year. First-year Chi-Chi Ndubusi scored one point for Oberlin in placing eighth in the shot put at championships, the first time in four years that a female thrower has scored for Oberlin.

Both Medora Lytle, a constant source of encouragement for the young distance runners, and Chamia Peterson, a five time winner of the long jump both indoor and outdoor, will graduate this spring. While they will be missed, the nucleus of the team that is rapidly developing into a conference power of its own will remain intact.

At the start of the season, some might have picked the men's tennis team to finish somewhere around tenth in the five-team division. After all, Oberlin had graduated three of its four top players and the fourth was taking a year off from school. Undaunted, the team cobbled together a season that exceeded even their own coach's expectations.

Their final standings (6-12 overall, 1-3 in NCAC) might not look that strong, but they fail to note the lengthy trips to Michigan, Florida and other out-of-the-way locales to play matches. The men also doubled their conference win total from last year, defeating both Hiram and Wabash. "All year long," said Hunsinger of this year's team, "they really represented Oberlin College and themselves very well with what they had to do."

Oberlin is graduating top singles player Jon Stinson. Stinson won a key match in the NCAC tournament to keep alive Oberlin's hopes of salvaging their season. Junior Jed Greenberg should return to patch that hole and spearhead a Yeomen squad that knows they are more than capable of exceeding expectations.

In their inaugural season, Oberlin's softball team was realistic about their playing level. A shortened season meant more practice time and more experience for the small squad. Anchored by seniors Sarah Krier, Jami Silver and Katy Durham-Hammer, the team slugged out three wins late in the season to end at 3-15 (3-11 in NCAC).

"We really hit our stride the last few games, and it's a shame we couldn't have done it a little earlier," said Durham-Hammer. "I think we proved to ourselves that we could be a very solid team once everyone accepted their roles." Sophomore Becky Kanuch added a spark at the top of the lineup to create instant offense on a team pushed for runs.

When plans were announced to form a varsity softball team last year, over 40 students expressed interest. By opening day, the fervent had been whittled down to a dozen-a quarter of whom were seniors. Next year's team is slated to include local talent as well as recruits from both coasts, but only time will tell if enough recruits and red shirts will join the team to make it successful. The foundation has been laid and now it is time for the underclassmen to step up.

You can say this much for the men's lacrosse team, win or lose, they do it large. Of their thirteen games this season, three were settled by a difference of less than four goals. The others had an average disparity of over 18 goals a game, including the season-ending 17-0 thrashing of Meadville.

Unfortunately, the Yeomen were too often on the wrong end of the lopsided score, finishing with a 3-10 record (0-7 in NCAC). Much of this can be attributed to playing in a top lacrosse conference with a team about half the size of many of their opponents. For Oberlin to succeed however, things will need to change on several levels, specifically in their offense which managed to convert only 27% of the time in man-advantage situations.

The Yeomen only graduate defensemen Andrew Kim. Kim, who first began playing the sport when he arrived at Oberlin four years ago, had developed into a strength on defense and in the lockerroom where his leadership and moral support will be missed most of all. "He is a dedicated player and a student of the game, which allowed him to become the great defensemen that he was," said head coach Jim Donovan.