Over Thanksgiving break, four Oberlin teams were busy bringing home victories and shattering school records. The swim and dive team had an invitational a week before the break and broke three school records, some of which were set in the ’90s. Also, the women’s and men’s basketball teams cruised through their games this past weekend.
The women’s basketball team played against Penn State Behrend and was looking to extend their unbeaten streak to six wins. Second-year Ellie Pollock Ballard was one of the stars of the game and scored 22 points, over a third of the total points. Other Yeowomen excelled on the court as well, including second-year Lily Najmulski, who scored four three-pointers, and fourth-year Alyson Jefferson, who scored nine points and earned six rebounds, four assists, and two steals.
The game started extremely well for the Yeowomen. They went up 7–0 and finished the first quarter up 23–7. Although the Lions tried to chip away at the lead, the Yeowomen played with resolve for the next three quarters and won 63–49. The next match for the undefeated team is against Chatham University on Monday, after they beat Baldwin Wallace University this past Wednesday in a double-overtime showdown, 69–65. The win was the Yeowomen’s first major upset of the season since the Yellow Jackets were ranked 19 in Division III heading into the game.
The men’s basketball team played against Defiance College for the first time in five years. Fourth-year Anastasis Spyroglou was an offensive weapon for the team and scored 19 points. Other notable performances came from second-year Milun Micanovic, who scored 10 points and grabbed nine rebounds, and first-year JJ Gray, who contributed 13 points and earned North Coast Athletic Conference Athlete of the Week honors.
Oberlin started the game on a 13–4 run, but Defiance closed the gap to just one point. However, the Yeomen broke away to finish the first half 43–34. The team continued to widen the gap and led by 28 with ten minutes left in the game. They maintained their lead in the fourth and downed the Yellow Jackets, 80–58. Although the Yeomen lost their next game to Wittenberg University, they will look to rebound against Wabash College this Saturday at Philips Gym at 2 p.m.
Other teams that have had recent success are the men’s and women’s swim and dive teams, both of which won the Malone University Invitational. The Yeowomen earned 2,076 points and the Yeomen 2,358 points to win the invitational, beating out 14 other teams.
On the first day of the invite, Oberlin swimmers broke three different records. In just his third competition for the team, first-year Chahine Said broke a 30-year-old school record for the 1650-yard freestyle race with a time of 15:57.26. Third-years Erik Fendorf and Myles Felt, second-year Daniel Bocsi, and first-year James Moll broke the second school record of the meet when they finished the men’s 200-yard relay in 1:24.09. Fendorf’s 50-yard stretch of that relay broke the third school record of the day when he finished in 20.79. Fendorf was named NCAC Athlete of the Week for his record-setting performance.
On the second day of the invite, the Yeowomen had an impressive showing in the women’s one-meter diving competition. First-year Faye Huffman finished in second place with 251.65 points, followed by first-year Elizabeth Huettig, who finished in fourth with 213.40 points. The men’s team set another school record when Bosci, Felt, Said, and second-year Miguel Siwady competed in the men’s 800-yard freestyle and finished in 6:58.94.
The third and final day of the meet started with the women’s 200-yard individual medley race, in which fourth-year Audrey Weber finished in 2:23.78, earning her a seventh place finish. Later, Siwady continued his success this season when he won the men’s 500-yard freestyle race. The Yeowomen also had a great showing in the 200-yard butterfly, with third-year Rosalie Baron finishing in third place and third-year Lucy Lee finishing eighth. The next swim and dive team meet will be Dec. 1 at John Carroll University, where the team hopes to build on the success of the Malone Invitational.
