Ify Ezimora, Sports Editor

December 7, 2018

The John W. Heisman Club’s recently-announced Next Generation Board sets the foundation for a commitment to engaging with and prioritizing the voices of current students and recent grads in athletics. The board, in its creation, consists of recent Oberlin College graduates: 2018 grads Monique Newton, Federico Consuegra, and Jackie McDermott; and 2016 grads Blaise Dolcemaschio and Molly Powers. These five athlete alumni were hand-picked by Associate Vice President for Athletics Advancement and Delta Lodge Director of Athletics & Physical Education Natalie Winkelfoos, Associate Director...

Alexis Dill, Sports Editor

December 7, 2018

Members of the 2018 North Coast Athletic Conference Championship women’s basketball team were honored with a ring ceremony during intermission of the men’s basketball game Wednesday, which followed the Yeowomen’s first conference victory of the season. They beat the Kenyon College Ladies 51–47. The Yeowomen had an exceptional season last year, earning a 21–8 record overall and a 13–3 record in conference play. The team’s two most productive players, senior captains Alex Stipano and Liv Canning, are ready to guide the young squad to a repeat. Canning currently leads the...

Alexis Dill, Sports Editor

November 30, 2018

Two weeks after the 2012–13 NBA regular season wrapped up, Jason Collins — at the time, a free agent — sat in front of his TV and took a deep breath, waiting to see himself all over the news. He couldn’t hold it in any longer, and had already told 20 of his family members and closest friends. Now it was time for everyone else to know. Journalist Franz Lidz helped Collins articulate his thoughts and emotions in a first-person story that was minutes away from being published on Sports Illustrated’s website. On that day, April 29, 2013, Collins told the world that he is gay. A...

Luke Sprecher, Staff Writer

November 30, 2018

On a midseason Sunday about two months ago, before Oberlin became covered with a layer of ice beneath an inch of snow, College first-year and cross country runner Avery Coreschi walked briskly to practice. Few trees were bare, some were still green, and others had turned a burnt red or a dark shade of orange. Oberlin was in the midst of autumn, when the weather’s almost always just OK. At 8 a.m. he completed a routine cross country workout: eight miles around campus, no break. Most people would ask, why running? Why choose a sport in which conditioning — the punishment for athletes...

Julie Schreiber, Senior Staff Writer

November 16, 2018

When College senior and women’s basketball co-captain Olivia Canning watched her teammate, College junior and point guard Cheyenne Arthur, nail a few three-pointers in last Saturday’s game against Alma College, she got the feeling that the young team was headed toward another successful season. The Yeowomen, who opened their 2018–2019 season Nov. 10 with a 59–45 win, are approaching the season with both steady optimism and caution. The team is aiming to repeat last year’s NCAC championship, which it took home for the first time in program history, but must confront the challenging...

Julie Schreiber, Senior Staff Writer

November 9, 2018

In the third quarter of Saturday’s football matchup between the Oberlin College Yeomen and the Hiram College Terriers, the crowd gasped as College junior and star quarterback Zach Taylor fell to the ground clutching his leg. Taylor, who had just become Oberlin’s career total yards leader with 7,096 yards a week earlier, broke his fibula and was unable to re-enter the game. In a crunch and desperate to take home the win, the Yeomen put in first-year backup quarterback Tommy Jenkins, who has talent comparable to Taylor’s but hasn’t seen much playing time this year. Just a few days before...

Alexis Dill, Sports Editor

November 9, 2018

At the conclusion of her junior year, College senior and softball player Emma Downing was unsure if she should apply to the Honors Program in History. She didn’t think she would get in — only seven students were accepted this year — and even if she did, she didn’t know if her schedule would allow for it. Nevertheless, she decided to take the plunge. “There weren’t any other classes I wanted to take, and I wanted to push myself academically and see what I could accomplish,” Downing said. “I knew that coming up with a question and researching it all year to write a 60-page paper...

Luke Sprecher and Alex McNicoll

November 9, 2018

The North Fields are not a pleasant place to be on an early autumn afternoon. They’re hot, sticky, and full of bugs. Somehow, this is exactly where the Gruffs — Oberlin College’s men’s club rugby team — find themselves every Tuesday and Thursday. By mid-September, most club rugby teams will be working on rucks — situations where when a tackled player goes to ground, they must release the ball immediately and each team fights for possession of the ball — advanced line-out maneuvers, or even learning a coach’s playbook if they are so inclined. On this particular Tuesday, College...

Ify Ezimora and Jay Messina

September 21, 2018

Three years ago, two guys with a little too much free time and a passion for golf had an idea. In fall 2016, Jay Messina — College senior and varsity men’s lacrosse player — and John Sutherland, OC ’18, started Oberlin’s co-ed club golf team. Many of the founding members were teammates from the men’s lacrosse team, but as word spread throughout campus, others joined as well. What began with two students is now at over 20, with six new players coming in this year. While the team is predominantly composed of men’s lacrosse athletes, members also come from the men’s baseball,...