While most athletes rely on well-timed meals and hydration to fuel their performance, Oberlin men’s tennis player Zain Makada has spent the past month navigating a very different kind of discipline: fasting from sunrise to sunset for Ramadan, the holiest month in Islam. Observed by an estimated 2 billion Muslims around the world, Ramadan is a time of spiritual reflection, increased prayer, and charity. Central to the observance is the daily fast, which begins at dawn and ends at sunset. For Makada, a second-year and active member of Oberlin’s Muslim Student Association, that means juggling...
Two seasons ago, the Denver Nuggets were on top of the NBA world. Former Head Coach Michael Malone proudly held the Larry O’Brien Trophy after swiftly defeating the Miami Heat in five games to win the franchise’s first-ever NBA championship. On Tuesday, the Nuggets flipped the NBA world upside down. Malone, the all-time winningest coach in Nuggets history, was fired. The success he had two years ago no longer mattered; all that mattered was the present. The decision to fire Malone came with three games remaining in the regular season. Currently, the Nuggets are the fourth seed in the Western...
Two months ago, Roseanna Smith received the news that every woman dreads — she had breast cancer. For Smith, Oberlin football’s chief of staff, special teams coordinator, and running backs coach, it was not the first time that cancer had directly impacted her life. Just six months prior to her own diagnosis, her father was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, an incurable cancer, after falling and breaking his femur. While the fall and diagnosis were the start of the most difficult six months of Smith’s life, she entered her own battle against cancer with the knowledge that she had an army...
The accolades that the University of Connecticut Huskies’ Paige Bueckers has earned across her collegiate career are nothing short of legendary. Four consecutive trips to the Final Four. The first freshman to win the AP Player of the Year, Wooden Award, and Naismith College Player of the Year award. Two-time BIG EAST Player of the Year. The 2025 Wade Trophy winner for the best NCAA Division I women’s basketball player. The presumptive no. 1 pick in the upcoming WNBA Draft. The one item missing from her stellar resume? A national championship. Bueckers committed to UConn with the primary goal...
For decades, professional sports teams in Cleveland were a laughingstock. From 2003–2019, the Cleveland Browns missed the playoffs, spotlighted by a winless 2017 season. The Cleveland Guardians were so bad in the 1980s that the 1989 comedy film Major League portrayed the Guardians as a joke. The Cleveland Cavaliers were stuck in mediocrity for over 30 years, not making any noise until 2003 when the franchise drafted LeBron James. Even smaller pro franchises were unable to thrive during this time. From 1997–2003, the Cleveland Rockers were a part of the WNBA until they had to fold due to...
2025 marks the 30th year of the professional establishment of the world’s game in the U.S. and Canada, and it is shaping up to be an anniversary filled with pride. Major League Soccer is experiencing unprecedented growth in the U.S., and it’s the perfect time to recognize the growing popularity of soccer — hereafter referred to as football — and MLS’s place on both the domestic and international stages. MLS began in 1995 with 10 clubs after the U.S. hosted the 1994 FIFA World Cup. The worldwide showcase helped MLS reign in supporters from all across the globe. Since 2015, MLS has added...
After a spring break that tested their limits, the men’s tennis team stormed back onto the court this weekend with a stronger command of their game, poised to make waves in North Coast Athletic Conference play. They rolled past the Division II Tiffin University Dragons with a 5–2 win Saturday, and kept the momentum going Sunday with a 7–0 sweep over Wittenberg University in their first match of North Coast Athletic Conference play. Against the Dragons, the doubles laid the foundation. In a closely contested match, third-year Shawn Lisann and first-year Brady Huggett overcame Tiffin’s...
Bringing together students from different , majors, and athletic backgrounds, Oberlin’s club soccer meets multiple times a week to play the world’s sport. The club’s practice times and locations are dribbled around by scheduling conflicts; a scrimmage can occur on the sun-drenched North Fields, where midges and gnats are kicked up by the hundreds; head indoors to Williams Field House for 7-on-7 turf scrimmages; and even run late into the night on Bailey Field, where the stadium lights illuminate every pass and shot. Regardless of location, attendance, or insect population, Oberlin club...
At the end of every semester in Oberlin, the Cat in the Cream holds an event that radically departs from the usual concert, Conservatory recital, or trivia night. The metamorphosis is subtle yet striking; excited parents, siblings, and grandparents from the Oberlin community fill the seats to face a stage populated by young girls and boys, who, along with an Oberlin instructor, perform a choreographed routine they have been practicing all semester. This is Kids in Motion: an Oberlin ExCo that sends College students into the classrooms of Langston Middle School and Oberlin Elementary School to offer...
In a display of unyielding determination, the Oberlin men’s open Ultimate Frisbee team soared to victory at the Division III Ohio Valley Regional Championships, earning a spot in the National Championship. The journey to this moment was paved with countless hours of sweat, sacrifice, and unwavering dedication. The weekend prior, the Flying Horsecows faced many disappointing defeats at Sectionals: plagued by injuries and illness, they finished with a 0–4 record in the Miami, OH competition. However, looking forward to a redeeming performance in Butler, PA, the Flying Horsecows entered the...
Fourth-years Allison Lupatkin and Sumner Wallace both joined the Preying Manti, the women’s and trans ultimate frisbee team on campus, their first year and have been heavily involved since. As they get ready for their first spring tournament in two weeks, they reflect on their last four years with the Manti. Many Manti come from different backgrounds and levels of frisbee. Lupatkin got started with frisbee her first year at Oberlin. It was fall 2020, during the pandemic, and many first-years were doing outdoor social distancing activities. Her friend group tossed in North Quad, and although...
March Madness has come to an end, and when the dust settled, the No. 1 seed Florida Gators took home the men’s hardware while the No. 2 seed University of Connecticut Huskies...
Natalie Winkelfoos is in her 12th year as the director of Oberlin Athletics. During her time at Oberlin, Winkelfoos has been named the Division III Administrator of the Year...
JJ Gray is a second-year Economics major on the men’s basketball team and the co-chair and founder of the Asian Student-Athlete Group. Last week, Gray was awarded North...
Kevin Farner is in his second year at Oberlin College as the Campus Recreation Coordinator and the only full-time employee of College Lanes, Oberlin’s on-campus bowling...
Nate Thompson is a third-year Financial Economics major. He is the co-captain of the Oberlin Men’s Soccer Team. He recently partook in the Ashby Business Scholar Program...
Second-year Meaghan Kramer is a forward/midfielder on the field hockey team. An international student from the Netherlands, she is planning on double majoring in Biology and...
Fourth-year Yuuki Okubo is a guard for the Oberlin men’s basketball team. Originally from Los Angeles, Okubo was an internet sensation who went viral multiple times before...