The swimming and diving team suffered its first defeat of the season as it fell to the Case Western Reserve University Spartans in the final round of the Greater Cleveland Championship at Carr Pool this past Saturday, Nov. 10. The loss put the team’s record at 3–1 for the season.

The Oberlin men and women combined had 212 points, but that wasn’t enough to overcome the Spartans’ 379 points.

The meet was dual scored, which means that the men’s and the women’s scores were added together. The Yeowomen lost to Case Western’s women’s team by a score of 139¬–159, and the Yeomen were unable to make up the ground, as their Spartan counterparts outscored them 73–220.

“We knew it was going to be rough, but we really just wanted to give them a run for their money and race really hard,” said first-year Lauren Wong.

Despite being outnumbered, the Yeowomen and Yeomen combined to win ten events.

The Yeowomen claimed seven of those victories to keep close with the Lady Spartans on the scoreboard. They were powered by their underclassmen, who earned six of their seven victories.

First-year Deirdre Haren clocked in at 1:11.10 in the 100-meter breaststroke to finish first. Sophomore Aubrey Pongluelert followed with a first place finish in the 200-meter breaststroke with a time of 2:34.14.

The youthful trend continued as Wong finished first in both the 100 and 200-meter backstroke with times of 1:00.68 and 2:11.26, respectively.

Junior Anna Saltzman was the lone upperclassmen in the wins column as she taking first place in the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 25.68.

On the diving board for the Yeowomen, sophomore Adrian Ziaggi finished first in the one-meter dive with a score of 195.20. Ziaggi also placed second on the three-meter dive with a score of 149.20.

While the Yeowomen stayed within striking distance of Case Western, the Yeomen couldn’t keep pace with their Spartan counterparts in the water. Of the sixteen total men’s events, the Yeomen finished first in just three events and second in one.

The Yeomen had fewer swimmers in the water than the Spartans, which made it even more difficult to get on the scoreboard.

“[The men] would have some races where they’d only have one person swimming . . . you have only one person scoring against three other people scoring,” said Saltzman.

All-American sophomore diver Chris McLauchlan continued his dominance on the diving board. McLauchlan handily won both the one-meter and three-meter dives, with scores of 288.80 and 299.95, respectively.

First-year Marshall Waller finished first in the 100-meter backstroke with a time of 54.65, which gave the Yeomen another first place finish.

Despite the loss, Waller and his teammates were optimistic about their performance.

“Everybody as a whole was pretty satisfied with the meet. Obviously we didn’t get the win, so it’s a little disappointing on that side, but considering everything else I think everybody was still pretty happy,” Waller said.

The Yeomen and Yeowomen haven’t dwelled on the loss very long. They’ve been training hard this week for their meet against Wittenberg on Saturday, Nov. 17.

“It’s going to be very close,” said Saltzman.