The men’s and women’s swim and dive teams put out a strong performance at the Malone Invitational, both squads securing second place finishes at the three-day competition in Canton. With standout individual performances and record-breaking relay swims, the Yeomen and Yeowomen demonstrated their competitive edge against a field of 14 men’s and 16 women’s teams.
The Yeowomen started the competition strong in the first event: the women’s 200-yard freestyle relay. Fourth-years Izzy Pfaff, Elinor Frost, and Ava Peyton, and third-year Nyrobi Whitfield secured second place with a time of 1 minute, 38.43 seconds, nearly a second faster than their seed time and less than half a second behind the leader, Gannon University. The relay events continued to be a highlight for both teams: Pfaff, Frost, and Peyton joined up with first-year Andie Kinstle to take second place in the women’s 400-yard medley relay, and the combined efforts of first-year Zach Black, second-year Chahine Saïd, third-year Leo Powers, and fourth-year Isaac Viviano led to a third place finish in the men’s 200-yard freestyle relay. The Yeomen also dominated the men’s 800-yard freestyle relay as Saïd, third-year Miguel Siwady, and fourth-years Erik Fendorf and Myles Felt claimed first place with a time of 6:54.46.
“The meet was really fun!” Pfaff wrote to the Review. “Long meets like that are a great bonding experience for the team. This team is so awesome, kind, and funny, and I’m looking forward to getting even closer with everyone as the season progresses!”
At the meet, Pfaff continued her stellar season with a second place finish in the 50-yard freestyle, clocking in at 24.41. Frost was another key performer, finishing seventh in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a personal best time of 19:00.61 and finishing eighth in 100-yard butterfly with a season best time of 1:02.01. Second-year Gretchen Lotter swam to a sixth place finish in the 400-yard individual medley, putting up a personal best time of 5:02.93 in the preliminaries and 5:03.45 in the final. The Yeowomen finished with a total of 895 points, cementing their second place finish at the invitational.
“It was honestly such a great meet, so many people on the team swam really great races and [had] times that were lifetime bests, which was amazing to see,” Lotter said. “Over the course of the meet people were cheering at the ends of teammates’ lanes during races, and it really created some amazing energy on deck. With how great people swam at this meet, I’m looking forward to seeing how people will swim at our conference meet in a couple of months.”
The Yeomen had strong performances in the men’s 100-yard breaststroke: Viviano claimed third with a time of 57.15, fourth-year Finley Barber finished fifth with a time of 57.55, and second-year Charles Matia swam a 58.86 to finish eighth. Fendorf placed second in the 100-yard butterfly with a season best time of 49.82, and in the 400-yard individual medley, Siwady and Powers swam to third and fourth, respectively. Their performances helped propel the Yeomen to 1,197 total points, securing second place in the men’s competition.
“The meet was great for the team,” Barber said. “Overall, everyone performed well. It was punctuated by a couple of really stellar performances from the men’s and women’s teams, and it was thrilling to watch school records get broken. We have a lot of season left to build on those swims, and I’m very excited for our conference meet.”
One of the meet’s standout swimmers, Saïd, cemented his place in Oberlin’s swimming history with a series of record-breaking performances. Saïd’s victory in the 200-yard freestyle with a personal best time of 1:40.49 shattered a 30-year-old school record: Mike Heithaus’, OC ’95, 1994 time of 1:41.49. Saïd also anchored Oberlin’s victorious 800-yard freestyle relay, where the team broke a school record set in 2023. Saïd wasn’t done, going on to claim first place in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:36.50 and third-place in the 1,650-yard freestyle — an event in which he holds the school record — with a time of 16:25.65. His outstanding performance did not go unnoticed, and he was named NCAC Men’s Swim & Dive Athlete of the Week.
“I would say that that meet was really fun — we had some really great swims overall, and the team chemistry was surprisingly strong which made everyone enthusiastic and excited for the rest of the season,” Saïd said.
With the meet now concluded, both teams have established themselves as major contenders in the North Coast Athletic Conference and are poised for continued success in the latter half of the season. Both teams will return to action today at a meet hosted by John Carroll University.
