The gulf between tragedy and triumph is often thin — often, in fact, imperceptibly thin, perhaps only microns wide. Perhaps it is the width of a thin layer of water between skin and plastic, wide enough to cause a disc to slip from the hands. Perhaps it is the width between expectations and results, between dreams and reality, between what was imagined would be and the advent of what now is.
The Oberlin Flying Horsecows navigated that gulf of emotions this past Saturday at Great Lakes Regionals in Columbus, Ohio in a dramatic finale to the 2001-2002 season and, for 10 seniors, the finale to their ultimate frisbee careers.

The tournament started in disarray for the ’Cows, as they arrived at the fields mere minutes before the start of their first game due to confusion over the fields’ location. Purdue University, seeded eighth to Oberlin’s ninth seed, made the Horsecows pay for their delinquency and tight muscles, as Purdue burst out of the gate to a 6-0 lead and then 8-3 halftime edge.
Unfazed, the Horsecows got themselves back together, and got psyched up the way they should have been at game time. With a veteran line on the field to begin the second half, the Horsecows steeled their resolve and rolled off three straight points with nary a substitution. With some subbing, the next line scored another, to make it 8-7, and Purdue momentarily appeared to regain life, scoring the next to widen the margin to 9-7. No matter, as the ’Cows ratcheted up the intensity another notch and rolled for the next six in a row, making the count 13-9 and leaving Purdue completely demoralized, on the heels of a 10-1 Oberlin run. Unwisely, Oberlin decided to coast, and Purdue came back for the next two scores, but the Horsecows traded scores, and walked away with a 15-12 victory thereafter.

“The looks on Purdue’s faces,” recalled senior Anthony Davis, “it was like they had just found out that Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Postmaster General really don’t exist.”
The first-round win put Oberlin into the quarterfinals up against long-time rivals at the University of Michigan, the tournament’s first seed and a team undefeated in the three years of the Great Lakes Region’s existence. Games between Oberlin and Michigan are always close-fought affairs, with Magnum normally getting the upper hand, but the Horsecows were bound and determined to show this Michigan team what they were made of.
This game was a typical Oberlin-Magnum affair, with both teams coming out fired up and trading the first several scores. Oberlin senior standout Adam Marvel, unfazed by his opponent’s hype, easily beat Michigan’s Callahan (college ultimate’s MVP) nominee, Rook, long for several scores. Oberlin was nearly free of mistakes, but Magnum seemed completely free of mistakes — especially following Horsecow turnovers — and were able to take half, 8-5.
Oberlin, always happy to start the second half with a deficit, quickly rolled off two points to make it 8-7. Michigan responded with a score to make it 9-7, and in a marathon point, the Horsecows worked up the field before turning the disc over on the goal line. The defense did not relent, however, and it took the better part of 10 minutes for Michigan to work the disc in for the score. They eventually did, and the margin was all they would need. Up 10-7 with Oberlin’s A-line exhausted, Michigan was able to put the game out of reach of even Oberlin’s second late run, and Magnum took the game, 15-10.
“I wanted to win that game, real bad,” first-year Keith Apfelbaum said, “but not as bad as I want a cheesesteak. GOD, I want a cheesesteak…no, bad Keith, no, that’s impure…”
The loss put the Horsecows in the backdoor bracket of the tournament, meaning that a second loss would send the team home for the season. Traditionally, this is when Oberlin rises to the occasion, and against their next opponent, the University of Chicago, it appeared the Horsecows would do so. After a show of surprisingly good spirit for Regionals saw the teams trading jerseys for the game, Oberlin came out rolling, and took half 8-1. The biggest confusion the Horsecows suffered in the first half was what to call their teammates, adorned not in the Oberlin red-and-yellow but rather in the Chicago Junk maroon-and-baby-blue. The second half gave the ’Cows the opportunity to give inexperienced players some playing time, and despite very sloppy play Oberlin was able to coast to a 15-5 victory. Such a fan of the Junk jerseys was senior Chicago resident and co-captain Rich “Benedict” Raz that he traded his beloved red-and-yellow to a Chicago player, after which the teams came together for a hearty round of SPLAT! Oberlin SPLAT! champion, junior Dan Reeves, was again able to make the final cut in the competition, but in the end was gunned down by Chicago’s own expert finger-marksman.

The win over Chicago put the Horsecows up against Notre Dame University’s Papal Rage in the backdoor quarterfinals. Any suspicions that Oberlin had lost their fire in the latter half of the Chicago contest were quickly allayed in the Dame game, with the Horsecows sprinting out to a 6-2 lead. Papal Rage came back to score the next two, and the teams then traded points into half, giving Oberlin an 8-5 lead. Starting on defense in the second half, the Horsecows let up another score, and after several turnovers on the next point, found Notre Dame right back within striking distance and their once-formidable lead trimmed to 8-7.

Oberlin stormed back into action, and put up another point for a 9-7 lead. But Papal Rage was able to seize the momentum again, and went on another 3-1 run to take an 11-10 lead. Around this point in the game, the gray skies that had been threatening rain all day finally began to open up with a modest, steady rainfall. The Horsecows steeled themselves, and tied the game up at 11. Tight play followed, and the teams found themselves tied at 13, where finally Oberlin was able to get a break back, and took a 14-13 lead. Game point Oberlin, in a win-by-two, hard-cap-at-17 game, the last game of the day. With Oberlin starting on defense, they were unable to work the disc into the Dame end zone, and Papal Rage tied it back up at 14 — at the very least, it was now a game to 16. But Oberlin had the edge, as they were receiving the pull, albeit in a steady and increasing rain (which of course Dame also had to navigate).

In the long, messy point that followed, Oberlin turned the disc over once too often, despite having the advantage of the wind at their backs, and Notre Dame was able to convert for a 15-14 lead — game point, Dame, and Oberlin working upwind. Time, at this point, failed to adhere to its normal properties — it is entirely unclear whether the next point took three minutes or 30 minutes. What is certain is that, like a dagger in the collective Horsecow heart, it was a point won by Notre Dame — 16-14, game over. Tournament over. Season over. And for seniors Davis, Isaac Deter-Wolf, Ben Gleason, Jacob Kramer-Duffield, Jake Lubarsky, co-captain Nate Marsh, Marvel, Mateo Pastore, Raz and Jake Schlesinger, Oberlin ultimate career over.
It was a devastating blow — a loss in a game they had controlled throughout, and no second day at regionals for the first time in over a decade. And though the Horsecows had hung tough in an increasingly tough region, finishing in the seven/eight slot after beginning seeded ninth — indeed, hung tough as a small liberal arts college in a college ultimate frisbee world increasingly dominated by fast-developing major university ultimate programs — their success was bittersweet. Many tears were shed, many hugs and warm words exchanged. But after the initial shock, the initial despair, there was hope. As they looked around, the departing senior class noticed that they were leaving with a class of rising sophomores unrivaled since, well, since they were rising sophomores themselves. With seven rising sophomores, nine rising juniors — including three rookies who saw substantial playing time this season — and eight rising seniors, the team is bigger than ever going into the summer off-season. And with a dozen players over 6’ tall, and half of them over 6’2”, the Horsecows of the future will look to regain Oberlin’s traditional height advantage in future seasons.

But more than that, the Horsecows of the future will look to continue Oberlin’s tradition of having a team so tight-knit that its members never hesitate to call it a family. “The thing that makes us different, the thing that makes us special, is what we mean to each other,” senior Jacob Kramer-Duffield said.
And there is reason to believe that these feelings will continue. Following the traditional end-of-the-year circle, where each team member shares their feelings on the team and the year, first-year Braden Paynter was heard to remark, “Until today, I never knew what being a Horsecow meant.”

Senior Jacob Kramer-Duffield was a member of the men’s ultimate frisbee team, 1998-2002.