The Oberlin College swimming and diving team swam last on Nov. 17 in a dogfight against the Hiram College Terriers.

The women’s team showed solid improvement by swimming faster times but were narrowly edged 116 to 115 in what was the closest meet of the year.  The men’s team competed in its closest match of the season but was upset 86 to 106.

Senior co-captain Emily Spence felt the Yeowomen competed very well against Hiram. “Our team showed a lot of heart and raced hard. Most of all, I think the whole team had fun, cheering for one another and sharing the excitement of several lifetime best swims.”

The strong performances on both the men’s and women’s team reflected the dedication to improving their performance for each competition. 

As first-year Laura Fries explains the women’s performance, “It was frustrating to lose by just one point, but now I’m glad we were so motivated to swim hard enough to get that close.”

Fries left other swimmers struggling to get close to her.  She finished the 200-yard backstroke in 2:17.38, a personal best time and the fastest so far this season by any Yeo-swimmer.

In addition to Fries, the other Yeowomen contributed to the team score by winning seven of the eleven swimming events.  First-year Shannon Gallagher swam in the 100-yard free and recorded a time of 55.72. 

Sophomore Bryne Ulmschneider won the two longest events of the meet: the 1,000-yard free and the 500-yard free. Her time in the 1,000-yard free was a solid 11:21.76 making it the fourth best recorded time in Oberlin’s history.

Junior Kiri Ulmschneider won the 400-yard individual medley in 4:55.75, a new personal and team best.

Spence finished first in the 50-yard free with a time of 25.84. Her time would have placed fourth in the men’s race.  She commented on her performance, “Personally, I had a strong swim in the 50 free, and it felt nice to win the event at a home meet.”

Fellow classmate Kim Meinert competed in the 200-yard breaststroke; her time of 2:39.89 was good enough for the win.

The 400-yard free relay team, composed of sophomore Ploy Keener, Spence, Bryne Ulmschneider and Gallagher, outswam the Hiram team and finished first with a collective time of 3:50.58.

Both the men’s and women’s team were competing with tired legs, according to Fries: “We’ve had a lot of really hard practices, and we haven’t had any breaks, so we’re always broken down and tired, so it’s still good to come close to winning or to best times.”

Despite not coming out with a win, the men’s team had their best team showing so far this season.  The six-member team competed well against Hiram whose team is twice the size of Oberlin’s.

Oberlin was led by individual wins from first-year Daniel Holm in the 1000-yard free.  His time of 11:21.46 was a personal best and team season best mark.  Holm also found the energy to glide to a first place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:29.44.

Sophomore Scott McInerney racked up two wins as well, finishing first in the 200-yard free (1:56.38) and butterfly (2:13.36).Sophomore Mark Muthersbaugh won the 50-yard free in 24.20.

The 400-yard free relay team of junior James Barnard, first-year Jacob Wishart, McInerney and Muthersbaugh placed first in their duel against Hiram. Oberlin’s only diver, junior Cory Myers, won the one-meter diving event with a score of 237.82.

The team will travel on Nov. 30 to Wooster, Ohio for a three-day swimming spectacular. 

Fries believes this will be a good opportunity for the team to have some good performances:

 “We’re tapering now for the Wooster Invitational, and I think the rest we’ll get will make a huge difference on performance.  I expect a lot of PRs this weekend.  Everyone is really excited for it and I think the hard work will really pay off.”