Mercer and Limouze qualify for Nationals

Celeste was simply celestial...or sensational...or...you get the point.

Breaking six varsity records, including four of her own, first-year Celeste Mercer lapped her way to qualifying for the Division III nationals in the 100-backstroke at the Miami of Ohio invitational swim meet last week. Mercer swam the 100-backstroke in 58.29, beating the A-cut by 1.3 seconds and beating her old varsity record of 1:01.49. "That's just stupid fast," Swimming Coach Dick Michaels said about her time. She also broke records in the 50 yard free-style, the 100 yard free-style, the 200 yardback-stroke, and she participated in record-breaking times in the 200 freestyle relay and the 400 medley.

"She's been breaking records all fall," Michaels said. "She probably has the fastest time in the country for women in Division III," he said about the 100-backstroke.

Mercer was part of a team of eight swimmers who went to the University of Miami to swim against some of the biggest and the best. An invitational meet, swimmers had to qualify with times to participate-limiting much of the field to Division I swimmers. However, sophomore John Limouze was not frightened off by the big-timers as he placed 2nd overall in the meet. "That's amazing because of all the Division I swimmers," Michaels said.

Limouze swam 1:51:25 in the 200 butterfly, surpassing the A-cut of 1:52:59 by plenty and qualifying himself for Division III nationals.

"We shaved [John and Celeste] and were going for national qualifying times," Michaels said.

The eight Oberlin swimmers headed into this interdivisional meet Thursday, Dec. 3 facing formidable competition. "It was really neat to go to a meet with Division I swimmers-huge swimmers who are getting paid to swim," Mercer said. Regardless of this level of swimming, though Mercer, understandably, had a good time. "It was one of the more relaxing things I've done since I got to Oberlin," she said.

Mercer was up for the challenge. She swam her first event, the 50 yard free-style, in 24.60, breaking the old varsity record of 25.50 set in 1993. Next up was the 100 yard free-style, in which Mercer broke the record of 55.72 also set in 1993 with a time of 54.50. She then made waves with her shining nationals qualifying time in the 100 backstroke. Exhausted yet? She wasn't. Continuing with gusto, she shaved almost four seconds off of her 200 yard backstroke record of 2:13:15 with a time of 2:09:37.

"Coach got my taper right on. It worked out perfectly and made me go fast," Mercer said.

The individual event extraordinaire then went extrovert in the 200 freestyle relay, swimming with first-years Julia Handelman, Hannah Gottschall and sophomore Aurelie Cabou. They collectively broke the oldstanding varsity record of 1:45:68 with their time of 1:43:81. The same team delivered a record breaking 400 medley performance of 4:14.13.

In individual events, Becky Ducor delivered a lifetime best in the 200 breast-stroke, and Cabou put in a season best in the 200 freestyle.

The men also delivered an impressive performance. After Limouze's record breaking 200 yard butterfly, co-captain senior Jeremy Steinhauer who was unshaved had some good swims, racking up a 1:49.29 in the 200 freestyle and a 5:04.36 in the 500 freestyle.

"He done good," Michaels said.

With Limouze and Mercer going to nationals, what is left to look forward to this season from those two?

"Now that I have one cut, I can have 2 more cuts. The rest of the season I want to just work hard and trim time off so I can do well at Nationals," Mercer said.

Limouze placed 5th at last year's Division III national tournament. Three of the top finishers were seniors last year, so Limouze is looking to improve his performance there.

"Both have a chance of winning this year," Michaels said. "NCAA championships abound. But we have to win it first."