Last Thursday the Oberlin College men’s and women’s swimming and diving squads traveled to the College of Wooster for the College of Wooster Invitational. The Yeowomen finished the three-day meet with a total of 797 points, scoring them a sixth place finish. The Yeomen rounded out the meet with 487 points. This landed them in seventh place.

First-year Scott McInerey said,“Everyone had a really great meet. I can’t think of anyone who didn’t have a personal best swim. Our men’s team did extremely well getting seventh place out of ten teams with only seven guys swimming”

On the Yeomen’s side, senior co-captains Craig Betchart and Thomas Limouze astonished the team with outstanding swims. Betchart led the squad with a second-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle, which he swam in 47.99, earning him the coveted Swimmer of the Meet. Limouze dominated the distance events as he finished first in the 500-yard freestyle, with a time of 4:46.39, and fourth in the 1650-yard freestyle, with a time of 16:56.35. To add to the Yeomen’s domination in the pool, McInerney placed fourth in the 200-yard butterfly, finishing in 1:59.66.

“The women did equally as well, breaking two varsity records and coming close in two others,” said McInerney of the Yeowomen’s performance. “Overall we had a pretty fast meet and all I can say is I can’t wait to see how fast we are at the NCAC conference meet and maybe even the NCAA Division III meet.”

Two first-years, Marsha Guy and Bryne Ulmschneider, led the women’s squad to their sixth place finish. Ulmschneider competed in the 1650-yard freestyle, finishing with a time of 19:06.25, which placed her in sixth. Guy completed the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:14, landing her in fourth place.

On the first day, the team of first-years Kir Selert and Ploy Keener, sophomore Maura Selenak and junior Emily Spence broke the school record in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:42.38. The second day of the meet went just as well, as the Yeowomen broke another school record, this time in the 800-yard freestyle relay. The team of Guy, Ulmschneider, sophomore Kiri Ulmschneider and Spence finished the grueling race in 8:19.17.

“It was a great meet,” said women’s Head Coach Mark Fino, reflecting on the team’s performance at the long three-day meet.

He continued, “the team demonstrated its ability to respond to a very long and stressful meet similar to our conference championships. And they responded with great success.”

“I am very proud of the whole team,” he added. “Their performances were another indication that great things are in store for this team.”

Both squads will work towards this improvement after Winter Break when they will travel to Clearwater Beach, Fla. They will leave Jan. 3 for this intensive training session. Both squads begin competing again on Jan. 13, when they host a meet against Kenyon College.