On the closing day of the NCAC Conference Championships, the Oberlin College swim and dive teams went on a tear, breaking three school records and earning top-five conference finishes. The men’s team finished a record-breaking day with 170 points, the most points in program history and good enough for a fourth place finish. The women’s team also ended their day in record-setting fashion, finishing with 923.5 points — second in program all-time history and placing them fifth.
“There were a large number of great performances at the meet,” Head Coach and Aquatics Director Alex de la Peña said. “The team posted more than 50 personal best swims and dives, 31 top-ten times in school history and eight new school records.”
Headlining the Yeomen on this historic day, third-year Leo Powers broke the school record in the 100-yard individual medley. Clocking in a time of 52.65, Powers finished seventh in the A-Final race.
Leading the Yeowomen, fourth-year Ava Peyton competed in the 100-yard I.M. A-Final, finishing eighth with a time of 1:01.97.
Continuing to build on his legacy, senior Isaac Viviano broke the school record in the 200-yard backstroke, finishing at 2:03.79.
The last record of the day was broken in the men’s 400-yard freestyle relay. Fourth-years Erik Fendorf and Myles Felt, along with second-years James Moll and Chahine Saïd, clocked in 3:03.72 to take third and earn a place on the conference podium. Fendorf’s lead-off leg time of 45:02 earned him a spot in the NCAA B Cut — Fendorf and Felt will be back in the pool Friday to complete in the End of Year Invite at Case Western Reserve University.
“It feels great to get another chance to qualify for nationals this weekend,” Felt said. “It’s a privilege to be able to swim for this team. I’m glad to have the opportunity to represent my team on a national scale.”
On the women’s side, the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Peyton, second-year Ari Marrero, third-year Nyrobi Whitfield and fourth-year Isabel Pfaff touched down at 3:40.43 to place fifth.
In the men’s 200 backstroke, Moll was the Yeomen’s lone representative in the A-Finals, finishing with a time of 1:52.25 to claim eighth.
Fendorf continued his success in the pool shortly after, placing sixth in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 45.38.
Felt finished in sixth in the 200-yard butterfly A-Final at 1:54.19. Fourth-year Ronen Baron also represented the Yeomen in this event and swam to a personal best time of 2:20.71, good enough for ninth.
As the day was coming to an end, fourth-year Jackson Bartlett rounded out the scoring for the Yeomen with his 11 dives worth 243.25 points, good enough for eight overall.
de la Peña was thrilled with the team’s success and is excited for the future of the program.
“The team did a great job of using our program’s core values of accountability, resilience and family as a guide through the journey of our season,” de la Peña said when asked about the team’s performance. “We are graduating a large and talented senior class, but that is the nature of college athletics. We are continually working to provide the best experience possible for the student-athletes in front of us as well as looking to the future to bring in recruits that will continue to carry the torch and contribute to the program in the classroom, the campus community, and the field of competition.”
