“Yeowomen End Season With Loss” was the headline that crowded the back page of last week’s sports section. While our intent was only to convey the news, a friend brought to my attention that people joked at our decision to lead the section with a booming title that highlighted another Oberlin loss.

Touché, I thought. We should be able to formulate more creative headlines that do not blatantly draw so much negativity to the athletic program. After all, Oberlin is starting to become a school to be reckoned with.

Go ahead and wipe the cranberry juice that just shot out your nose from your face. “Oberlin is competitive at sports?” you say. “Are you high?” Nope, just very excited and optimistic about next season.

One of my privileges as the sports editor is that I am able to keep weekly tabs on how all of the athletic teams are performing. Steadily, the mounting losses have turned into close, competitive games and even a few wins. Case in point: the women’s cross country team’s conference-winning season.

The shift in the infamous Oberlin mindset that losing is inevitable has been pretty slow. Besides cross country’s achievement, this season has been another frustrating year for teams. Zero NCAA berths, one conference title and two conference tournament appearances (golf, swimming and tennis don’t count because they automatically go to conference) have left Athletic Director Joe Karlgaard lacking any silverware heading into the summer.

While the keys to the trophy case might not get dusted off this year and the Philips hallways might remain bannerless, there is still plenty to be proud of. You just have to dig a little deeper.

First off, I have to tip my hat to the baseball and football teams who were involved in some exciting, albeit unsuccessful, playoff races. Football’s 5-5 year was full of strong offensive play and down-to-the-wire games that had people forgetting that the program ever had a 40-game losing streak in the late ’90s. Sophomore running back RV Carroll had a monster year, racking up regional and national Division III awards while marching to a new Oberlin record with 1280 yards.

In the baseball camp, for several weeks the foreign word  “playoffs” was whispered among anxious teammates and fans, as the team hoped to head into uncharted territory. Despite the loss to Allegheny that put them out of contention, the team went on to finish the season breaking a record in wins, with 17. First-year star Jack Dunn made sure he went into the off season on a high after recording a no-hitter against Lake Erie.

With football and baseball graduating three and four key seniors respectively, youthful and experienced squads are returning to help take Oberlin to the long-awaited and well-deserved next level.

These two teams are not the only ones who will be returning more experienced groups. Men’s and women’s soccer are graduating three players each, while both basketball teams are only losing one player. Men’s lacrosse, field hockey and women’s lacrosse are losing two each. I am not going to list every team, but you get the picture. Despite losing all valuable players, each team is returning a solid core group.

Speaking of youth, one thing this season has seen is the coming of age of first-year talent that gives me much hope of better years to come.

I am not talking about first-years providing garbage minutes to rest the star player, but enormous contributions to their teams. Catherine Meredith notched an impressive 15 goals for field hockey while Kate Berry-Millet anchored the center of midfield for the women’s soccer team, providing a delicate free kick goal here and there. The recent talk of the town is women’s lacrosse stud Scarlet Prati, who had a breakout season with 40 goals. Prati teamed up with sophomore Lela Hull, who scored 51 goals, to form a very potent offense.

There are a handful of equally-talented first years on the men’s side. Lacrosse youngsters Erik Strand and Nick Sherman combined for 47 goals, while Skyler Dum held down the lone striker role for men’s soccer the entire year. Matt Aucunas is also spearheading the golf team; he claimed the number one spot for most of the year.

This is not an article to create false excitement over sports teams. But the majority of teams are entering the 2007-2008 year with a core of young talent, and if there is a solid recruiting class, then the sky is the limit for Oberlin.

Witnessing the gradual transformation has been exciting. I came here as a first-year with the belief that athletics were improving, and I have not been proved wrong.

For now, all I can say is keep working hard and good things are bound to come; Oberlin success is due. And when it does, I’ll be sitting in the hot Burton basement, reading the weekly sports articles on a Wednesday night, grinning and knowing that I was able to see the change happen, week in and week out, for my entire college career.