Throughout their season, which lasts from September to mid-February, the team partakes in a rigorous practice schedule. Each week, they start practices at 5:45 a.m. on Monday mornings, followed by a second practice along with a lift in the middle. Despite this time commitment, the seniors couldn’t imagine a world where they weren’t swimming.

Weber has been swimming competitively since she was nine years old, and Ferrari since she was eight.

“For me, I could not have pictured my life without swimming, and it’s really difficult for me to picture my life in the future without swimming,” Weber said. “I think a lot of that has to do with how swimmers really work hard and I like the feeling of being with my team and getting through a really tough set together, or joking around on the bus on the way to a meet, or eating dinner together after practice. Those are things that I really value and I know I’m gonna miss once I graduate. But I think I’m lucky that every single team I’ve been on has been a really great group of people that are all super dedicated, super hardworking, and also willing to have fun.”

Ferrari appreciates the swim team for the values that they share.

“Swimmers as a group of people are really interesting and dedicated,” Ferrari said. “ There’s a certain value to them that other people — I don’t know, I don’t want to say ‘don’t always have,’ but there’s just something about swimmers and the culture that a swim team builds in my life that I really always wanted to keep. It’s kind of weird to be graduating and think of myself as a swimmer and over my competitive career per se. But honestly, that team environment and team culture and just the mentality of a swimmer — that I don’t even know how to describe.”

In contrast to some other sports, being named captain is not an election process, but instead decided by the coaches who use their judgment and receive recommendations from previous captains. Both seniors were named captains at the end of their second year and have continued to remain in the position since.

“I know in other sports, the best players are often chosen to be the captains, and that’s definitely not how it works on the swim team,” Weber said. “We’re not the fastest people on the team, so I think a lot of our role is being a role model to other people, so that’s a big responsibility. Also, serving as an intermediary between the coaches and the team, although we’ve been trying to kind of change the leadership structure a little bit so that more people can feel included and feel like they have a voice directly to the coaches.”

Swimming is both a team sport and an individual sport. Swimmers race against competitors to improve their own times while competing to improve the team’s standing, and working to improve their technique and endurance. As captain of a team unique in this way, Ferrari emphasizes the spatial awareness needed to navigate being captain of a swim team.

“I feel like you have to be aware of your mindset and where you are because obviously you need to be in the mindset to go out and race and be hyped and excited for your races,” Ferrari said. “But also, at the same time, watching out for the team and noticing, ‘Oh, maybe this person is really anxious about this event, or they’re nervous before this’ and just taking a second and talking with them and helping them get ready for their races is a lot of work. I also did that as a teammate and a member of our team, so I don’t think that was a behavioral shift once I became a captain.”

Weber points out that a common misconception people have about swimming is that it is solely individual, when in reality, swimming as a sport would not be attainable if you were by yourself.

“When it comes to a meet, yes, it’s just you and the pool, and that’s what it really is,” Weber said. “But, whatever you do, whatever place you get, that determines the points for the team. At the end of the day, your contribution can decide whether or not the team wins.”

Out of season, the captains run captains’ practices, which are lower-stakes and meant to keep the team in shape. During this time,
the team lifts, swims, and plays occasional water-polo games.

“We are also in charge of the team’s Swouse,” Ferrari notes.

“Swouse” is the term the team uses to refer to the swim house.

This team is very closely bonded and spends the majority of their time together, both in and out of the pool. Weber notes how at their last conference meet last year, which is hosted at Denison University every year, the team was just as engaged and excited as the beginning.

“I’ve never had more fun than our conference meet last year,” Weber said. “Everyone was swimming so hard and doing their best, but also you could see that our team was having more fun than any other team there. We were just joking around with each other. So it’s definitely the people that make the team.”

Weber and Ferrari’s first season occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, so they aren’t familiar with how the team operated pre-pandemic. As a result, they have prioritized creating new traditions. They express how much the team has changed since their first year, and they are working hard to ensure the culture stays the same once they leave.

One of their favorite traditions is the team brunch hosted at the start of each year, which the class of 2024 started as an opportunity to get to know the new first-years and reconnect as a team after the summer. This year, all the fourth-years on the women’s team are housemates, so they invited the team to their house to reconnect.

“Also, as a women’s team, in the fall we always go apple picking and go to corn mazes and do fun fall activities,” Ferrari said.

Going into their second year as captains, Ferrari and Weber are experienced in motivating the team to work hard and push each other. Now, their goals have shifted to ensuring they leave a positive legacy for the program.

“Swimming is a hard sport,” Ferrari said. “It’s a lot of time where you can’t talk to people, you’re in the water, your head down, and it can be very hard mentally. So just making practices fun, and making that team environment as fun as it can be, is kind of what I’ve been trying to work on the most.”

Weber explains her shifts in goals during her second year as captain.

“At first it was more about trying to figure out how to be the best leader I could, and I think that’s still true, but also with the mindset of like, ‘I’m going to be leaving this team soon, so how can I help foster the best team environment I possibly can?’” Weber said. “How can I make it inclusive so that people feel like their voices are heard? How can I make sure that people are having fun and actually enjoying practice, enjoying the need to not take anything too seriously for myself, for my team now, but
also to set them up?”

Outside of swim, the captains balance various extracurriculars along with their jobs working for the Admissions Office.

Ferrari works as a senior fellow with Admissions, a peer tutor, and an Environmental Studies major representative. She also does research with Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology Andrew Pike, OC ’08, on mosquitoes in Lorain County. She is one of the
officers of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and also volunteers weekly with Oberlin Community Services.

Weber also works for Admissions as a tour guide and is part of OSteel, Oberlin’s steel pan ensemble. Along with this, she is an America Reads tutor and has been in the same fifth-grade classroom at Oberlin Elementary tutoring English language for multiple years. She also does research for the Anthropology department. Last summer, Weber did a study-abroad internship in Peru where she worked at an non-governmental organization in Cusco that works with Indigenous people. This past summer, she worked in Cleveland at Catholic Charities Migration and Refugee Services as an immigration legal intern.

Track and Field

On day one of the NCAC semi-finals Feb. 24 in Greencastle, IN, the women’s track and field team placed first of seven teams, while the men’s team placed sixth of eight overall. Also present at this championship was the women’s basketball team. All three teams cheered one another on throughout the events.

“If I’m being a little selfish, I will tell you Wittenberg’s track team was there too at the track meet but wasn’t at the basketball game,” Track and Field and Cross Country Coach Ray Appenheimer told the Review. “I really think [it] speaks to this place and this community. … We understand that the more supportive your community, the better your performance is going to be. … So much of what we do around here is ‘I see you … and I want to be here for you, and if there’s anything I can do to help support you, help challenge you, help build you up, I’m gonna do that for you.’ That’s not only a basketball or track thing, and it’s not only a department of Athletics thing — it’s an Oberlin thing. It is part of the fabric of this place, and it’s why we all choose to come here every single day.” (“Track and Field, Women’s Basketball Cheer Each Other On During NCAC Championships in Indiana,” The Oberlin Review, March 3, 2023)

Basketball

At the same NCAC tournament, the women’s basketball team defeated Wittenberg University 63–57 to advance to the finals, promoting them to the fourth seed in the conference. In the finals Feb. 25, Oberlin lost 79–71 to Ohio Wesleyan University’s Battling Bishops after a valiant effort. With just over 12 and a half minutes left in the game, the Yeowomen led by 11 points, but the third-seeded Battling Bishops ultimately upped their defense to win their sixth NCAC championship.

Lacrosse

Playing in poor weather conditions April 5, the women’s lacrosse team won its final non-conference game 15–5 before it entered a string of NCAC games.

“It was very sporadic, and in the moments of torrential rain, the game became very back-and-forth,” College third-year Audrey Koren told the Review. “Both teams had difficulty holding onto the ball because it was hard to see and everything was slippery. Once the rain would stop for a while, we did a good job regaining control and maintaining possession.” (“Women’s Lacrosse Defeats Baldwin Wallace,” The Oberlin Review, April 7, 2023)

Softball

The softball team ended its season April 26 with a 4–3 win in game two of a doubleheader against The College of Wooster. The game lasted nine innings. At the end of the seventh inning, the College of Wooster Fighting Scots and the Yeowomen were tied 1–1, but the Yeowomen pulled ahead in the bottom of the ninth with three additional runs. College first-year Hailey Alspach intercepted a steal during the game. Earlier this semester, Alspach spoke to the Review about her hopes for the team. “We have become an aggressive offensive team with a greater knowledge of how to handle certain defensive situations,” Alspach said. “Moving forward in the season, the team is really excited to see what we will be able to accomplish with everything we have learned. Hopefully, we’ll be able to show that this team is better at competing than last year and come out with more wins than before.” (“Despite Early Losses, Softball Optimistic for Season,” The Oberlin Review, March 10, 2023)

Baseball

Over spring break, the baseball team made a trip to Arizona for the Tucson Invitational, where the team won four games and lost three. During the team’s first matchup against Carleton College on the fifth day of the invitational, which Oberlin won 11–1, College third-year pitcher Vince Dolcemaschio won an NCAC award for his work on the mound. “[The trip] was awesome,” Dolcemaschio told the Review. “For me personally, baseball is my passion and number-one priority. Being able to only focus on baseball without the burden of school or homework was a pleasure. I wish every week could be like that.” (“Baseball, Softball Find Success During Spring Break Trips,” The Oberlin Review, March 31, 2023)

Tennis

The men’s tennis team won its final match before entering the NCAC tournament. This final win was an away game at Ohio Wesleyan University, and the final score was 8–1. Both the women’s and the men’s teams lost in the first round of the NCAC tournament — the men saw a 5–4 loss to Wabash College while the women lost with the same score to The College of Wooster.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

You’ve published several works about race, gender and sport. How did you first become interested in the intersectionality of those topics?

Like a lot of sociologists — and maybe researchers in general — many of my academic interests are rooted in personal experience. Being an athlete most of my life, especially being a Black, biracial woman in sports, shaped my interest in learning more about how our positionalities affect our athletic and fitness experiences and our perceptions of our own bodies. When I was in graduate school, I had an identity crisis of sorts; I had always been active and involved in sports and was always training for something, but suddenly I wasn’t. I started running and after a while I loved it. I did several 5Ks, 10Ks, and half marathons. The sociologist in me could not help but notice how white and homogenous recreational running tends to be. It is also expensive to participate in these events, buy the gear, and embed yourself in “running culture.” Studying Black middle- class women in recreational running ended up being the focus of my dissertation.

Members of the Oberlin College community are known for being unafraid to talk about social issues — how did the school’s culture influence your work?

Oberlin’s progressive history, and being in a community that encouraged exploring new ideas, speaking up, and challenging authority, are definitely factors that shape my work and how I approach it. Being a Sociology major at Oberlin really helped me hone my critical thinking skills and opened my eyes to issues of social inequality that I wasn’t fully aware of before coming to college. Now that I am a sociologist, I engage in sociological storytelling — methods like life story interviewing and autoethnography — which are definitely grounded in my desire to center marginalized voices and go against the grain with how I approach better understanding society. I think my inclination to question the status quo and push the boundaries of what it means to engage in scholarship is very Obie.

How did your experience as a basketball player at Oberlin influence your areas of study?

Playing basketball at Oberlin was one of the most meaningful, life-changing experiences I have had to date. The central role of athletics during these formative years will make sports and physical activity a part of my life forever. I love that I have been able to make thinking, writing, and talking about athletics, empowerment, and camaraderie among Black women a part of my job.

What made you want to come back to Oberlin as a faculty member?

When I started graduate school more than a decade ago, I told my mentor that working at Oberlin was my dream job. Some people told me not to share that goal with others, because many academics think we should only strive to work at large research universities. I never really had that desire. I wanted to work in a close-knit community, spend time getting to know students in smaller classes, and engage in mentorship. When there was an opportunity to come back to work at Oberlin and I was offered the job, I was excited. I never thought I would be in my undergraduate academic advisor’s former office, doing my best to make an impact on students’ lives as much as he did. It is a comfortable and familiar environment for me. It is also closer to our families than when we lived in Texas, so it is nice that our kids can grow up within driving distance of their grandparents and other extended family and friends. Hopefully when they get older, we can take them to enjoy events on campus like my partner and I did as students.

In what ways have you stayed connected to Oberlin’s athletic community?

I have stayed pretty connected since I graduated from Oberlin. For a while, my teammates and I made a point of coming back for our alumni games every year, but that fell off as we scattered across the country and started having kids and achy backs. I have served on the board for the Heisman Club and now am a member of the Faculty Athletics Committee. I also enjoyed doing some Zoom conversations with the Black Student- Athlete Group during the pandemic before I became a faculty member. I try to make it to a few women’s basketball games per year, and hopefully I’ll have more time in the future to go see more of my students compete on their respective teams.

What impact do you hope to make with your work going forward in Oberlin’s Sociology department?

I hope I can keep teaching material that resonates with students and gets them thinking about topics in new ways. I also like to teach material that makes students walk away not only feeling like they better understand the inner workings of society, but like they also see themselves and their biographies with more clarity. Making learning accessible is really important to me. I did not see many teachers or instructors that looked like me coming through school and higher education, so I also hope I can show other women of color on campus that they can be professors —and whatever else they want — too. We belong and are needed in these spaces.

What are some areas within sports specifically where you think people could do better to address social issues?

I hope conversations will continue about gender identity in sport, so we can find better ways to make competition and fitness inclusive and empowering spaces for people with marginalized gender identities. Using an intersectional perspective in these conversations is really important, so we ensure that we are centering the voices of student-athletes who may identify as trans or non-binary but also identify with a marginalized racial group, have invisible illnesses or disabilities, or are from a disadvantaged economic background.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

What made you decide to write your article series?

I have a decent following on social media, and I’ve always talked about my experience being trans. There are a lot of things a cis person cannot understand about trans people, no matter how much I explain, but I can still speak about my experience. I always journaled and wrote to myself, and then I started taking writing courses. My professor encouraged it, and I worked on one piece to show her. She told me, “You should present these. You should publish these in some form, whether it be through a blog or a personal project.” I decided I wanted to commit to that. 

Can you describe a little bit more about your first article and how your time at Oberlin influenced that?

My first article is about being an athlete and a trans woman. While I am not medically transitioned, I’m still representing as a trans athlete, and my name is still labeled as Nora. At Oberlin, it’s been a very wonderful experience, and I write about that in the article — about how I came in very anxious and concerned that I wasn’t gonna be accepted. I don’t compete with the women’s team, but I still participate with them in our social events and am a representative with them. So it’s been a very good experience and, again, is why I’m really happy I’m a part of Oberlin Swim and Dive. 

It was very weird for me because, in general, I didn’t transition until I started at Oberlin, so there’s only one person here who knew me before my transition. Everyone’s getting this impression of me so it doesn’t feel weird, especially since Oberlin is a very queer campus, but it becomes whiplash when I go back home because I’m in the South. It’s not exactly the safest place to be, let alone be trans, with all this negative media publishing. 

What are your future articles?

There’s a very serious issue with trans fetishization I experience on a day-to-day basis. I thought it would be important to write on that, but it’s going to be various things that some people are afraid to speak on. There are also just general everyday lifestyle things, like what I do to learn makeup, how I dress, general things that are just a serious point of my life that I never share.

What kind of challenges have you faced as a trans athlete?

I’m not medically transitioned, but on deck I still just appear normal beyond my makeup that I’ll wear. I can still hear these comments though. For instance, when we went to conference, one of my teammates heard very transphobic comments being made by an athlete. It wasn’t directly at me, but it still impacted me. And of course, with trans swimmers, everyone heard about Lia Thomas and would come to me and say, “What’s your opinion on this?” It was extremely mentally taxing to constantly hear how demonized I was gonna be when I started publicly transitioning.

It’s the whole reason I haven’t started hormones, and I write about that and how it’s so mentally jarring to me. Even though I’m not on hormones, I’m not a “threat,” it still mentally impacts me even now. You heard about Lia Thomas 24/7 last year, and it sucks to see the difference in responses over time because in 2016, North Carolina pushed a very transphobic bathroom bill, and everything pulled out, including the NCAA and filming for the show Outer Banks. And here we are in 2023 with even worse bills being pushed, and we’re not seeing pullouts or anything. We’re just seeing, if anything, a lack of acknowledgement. It’s bleak, unfortunately, and that’s why I wanted to write about it because no one actually asks trans athletes how they feel about this stuff. They just take it from some cis straight dude who didn’t care about women’s sports until two weeks ago. 

What do you want people, whether they’re trans or cis, to take away from your articles? 

It’s essentially closure with other trans people to know that they’re not alone. I remember when I started transitioning, I felt extremely lucky, and I slowly started meeting more and more trans people who are like me and experience crazy things. One of the articles is going to be me meeting all these trans people. I met this trans woman who is a retired school teacher. She’s 80 now, and she started her transition when she was 40. It was just this whole sense of seeing someone that had lived their life and was happy.

I’m only speaking from my own experiences. But for cis people, I want them to come into the articles with a sense that they’re not gonna fully understand a trans person. I can’t understand what it feels like to be cis, but there is an extent where you can read up on people’s experiences and at least acknowledge that they’re real. The problem I see with social media is a lot of cis people just want to dunk on transphobic legislators. The main goal of my articles is for people to read up on a few of my experiences and realize that instead of just going to dunk on transphobes, they should reach out, be supportive, and check in on their trans friends when all of this stuff has been happening. 

Hopefully, the goal is to change people’s perspectives. No trans people are actually reporting on these feelings outside of trans communities. If I can reach out to even one or two people who are transphobic and it changes their mind, I think that’ll make me content with what I’ve done.

Both track and field teams were wrapping up their first day of competition, and basketball was competing against Wittenberg University in the semifinal round. Toward the end of the day, Head Track and Field and Cross Country Coach Ray Appenheimer noticed that many of his athletes were interested in the game and allowed some to walk over to support the basketball team.

“As the first day of competition was winding down, you could see lots of folks on their phones watching the livestream,” Appenheimer said. “I would say there were probably 20 or 30 of them who [were] obviously really into it. One of our seniors, [fourth-year] Theo Haviland, was like, ‘Hey, coach, can we go?’ I was like, ‘Sure, of course you can go.’”

DePauw’s Indoor Track and Field Center is about a half mile walk away from Neal Fieldhouse, where the basketball game was held, so a few members of the track and field team had to run over in order to make it by the end of the third quarter.

“I was concerned because our sense of direction isn’t always the best on this team,” Appenheimer said.

Fourth-year Iyanna Lewis, defending NCAC women’s weight throw champion, also led multiple rounds of the song, “Yeo Baby.” The track and field teams also donned capes — Lewis cred- its fifth-year Captain Sarah Voit for the idea — which they waved at Wittenberg whenever the Tigers attempted to make free throws.

“The rest of the parents that were at the game [were] just surprised that all of us had come in,” Lewis said. “Afterwards, I watched it back and the announcers were like, ‘Whoa, Oberlin’s fan section is so huge.’ We could tell that they were playing music to try to get us to dance.”

With two minutes left to spare, the rest of the team was able to make it to the game, though Appenheimer noted that, “in basketball times, [two minutes is] a half hour.”

Ultimately, fourth-seed Oberlin upset Wittenberg, the first-seed team in the tournament, and danced its way to the finals for the first time since 2018 to continue their Cinderella run. Before playing against Ohio Wesleyan University, the basketball team repaid the favor and cheered on the men’s weight-throwers and women’s shot-putters.

Although the clock struck midnight too soon with a 79–71 loss and 17–11 overall season finish, third-year guard Gina Lombard, who played an integral role in both games and was named to the NCAC third-team after the finals, enjoyed the celebration after Oberlin’s success over Wittenberg and its hard fought attempt against OWU.

“The feeling of beating [Wittenberg] and having the whole track team there to celebrate with us … was something that [I’ll] remember for a while,” Lombard said. “The whole weekend was a highlight for me.”

Appenheimer reflected that inter-team support is what makes Oberlin unique from different schools, even beyond athletics.

“If I’m being a little selfish, I will tell you Wittenberg’s track team was there too at the track meet but wasn’t at the basketball game,” Appenheimer said. “I really think [it] speaks to this place and this community. … We understand that the more supportive your community, the better your performance is going to be. … So much of what we do around here is ‘I see you, … and I want to be here for you, and if there’s anything I can do to help support you, help challenge you, help build you up, I’m gonna do that for you.’ That’s not only a basketball or track thing, and it’s not only a department of Athletics thing — it’s an Oberlin thing. It is part of the fabric of this place, and it’s why we all choose to come here every single day.”

Before heading into the match against Wooster in the NCAC Championship Quarterfinals, fourth-year Đorđe Otašević took time to reflect on his three seasons competing for Oberlin.

“I am sad that my college career is coming to an end, but I’m proud of my team and everything we’ve done so far,” Otašević said. “We proved that we can play against anyone, even a great team such as Wooster. We will play our game, stick to our principles and game plan, and leave it all out on the court.”

Coming straight from a victory against the Fighting Scots for the first time in 35 years, the Yeomen competed valiantly against Wooster but ultimately came up short. Down by nine at halftime, the Yeomen struggled in the early moments of the second half but went on a 13–2 run to shrink Wooster’s lead to just three points, 65–62. Otašević; second-year Will Bousquette III, who was Oberlin’s scoring leader with 16 points; third-year Dimitrije Radusinovic; and first-year Adam Navarre all contributed to the scoring sheet, but their efforts proved futile as the Yeomen went on a five-minute scoring drought and ultimately lost 92–77.

Meanwhile, the Yeowomen en tered their contest against fifth-seed Denison as the fourth seed with a 15–10 season record. Oberlin had swept the Big Red in its previous two meetings this season and entered the game brimming with confidence. The stakes for this game were even higher, as Denison Head Coach Maureen Hirt was previously an assistant coach for Oberlin’s team and played a significant role in helping the Yeowomen get to the semifinals in the historic 2021–22 season.

Both teams came out of the gates firing, combining for 20 points in the first five minutes. Denison stayed one step ahead throughout the first quarter, which finished with the Big Red leading 20–17.

Overall, scoring slowed in the second quarter, with good defense and intense pressure on ball handlers and shooters. Buckets by first-year Lily Najmulski, third-year Jaedyn O’Reilly, and third-year Alyson Jefferson kept the Yeowomen in contention, and a buzzer-beater by second-year Kendal McCall lessened the Big Red’s lead to two, with Denison leading 30–28 at half. Second-year Bryana Woodard tied the game with layup to start the half, which set the tone for the third quarter. The two teams kept the scoring numbers high and stayed neck and neck thanks to Najmulski and third-year Gina Lombard. The duo knocked down a pair of two three-pointers each, which gave the Yeowomen a four-point advantage entering the fourth.

Najmulski and Lombard continued their success in the fourth by knocking down back-to-back three-pointers in the opening minute, which got the crowd rolling. Second-year Camille Zinaich, fueled by the moment and the crowd’s energy, knocked down three mid-range jumpers in a row to extend Oberlin’s lead to 14.

Down 66–52 with five minutes remaining, Denison crawled back valiantly and scored nine consecutive points to cut the lead to 5. First-year Angela Kumler held her nerve and sank her free throws, solidifying the Yeowomen with an unreachable seven point lead. Oberlin held on to knock off Denison 72–62 and advanced to the NCAC Championship Semifinals. They will face the number one seed, Wittenberg University, in Greencastle, IN.

Zinaich is looking forward to the upcoming matchup. She’s not only excited to be in the semifinals for two consecutive years, but she also hopes to avenge the team’s previous losses against Wittenberg this year, one of which was the final game of the regular season.

“It feels pretty awesome to be back in the semifinals,” Zinaich said. “Last year we did not play our best and we left Indiana feeling pretty bad, so it’s good to be back for some redemption. I am really excited to be playing Wittenberg. We lost to them twice this year, so we really want this win and want to end up in the championship game. The team and I are definitely striving for a championship this weekend.”

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What is the age distribution like on the team? Are there a lot of younger students?
There’s two fourth-years, four in my class, five second-years, and five first-years. The captains are three third-years and one second-year, but we definitely have a lot of leaders on the team whether they’re captains or not. Just talking to the first-years and the second-years has been a challenge for me personally because I didn’t have my first year of playing, so last year was my first year of playing.

I’m one of the captains on the team, so I spend time being more of a leader for the other 15 players on the team instead of just focusing on myself. My focus is being more vocal, more communicative, and more receptive to feedback. It’s my first year being a captain in college on this team, but in high school I was also a captain.

How has your team contributed to your success?

We all get along well, and we all are willing to put in the work to understand what we like and what we don’t like with our passes and how our pace is. And that is something that helps us on the court. I believe we have great chemistry, especially when there are certain rotations. As a team, I think communication has definitely been a challenge, but we’ve been working on it throughout the season.

Beyond the court, you’re also a co-chair of BSAG. What’s that like? Has it had any impact on your basketball experience at Oberlin?

Being a co-chair of BSAG definitely keeps me busy. We’ve had a few events, and we’re planning a few more in the spring. I’m definitely busier now than in the fall. Being co-chair allows me to connect with so many athletes across campus, which I enjoy because I don’t always get to talk to people outside of practice or see them a lot in the training room. It’s a lot of coordinating and event planning, talking to different groups on campus and talking with Delta Lodge Director of Athletics & Physical Education Natalie Winkelfoos and Senior Associate Director of Athletics Creg Jantz.

On the court, it helps me with the communication aspect and the time management aspect because with basketball, you have to learn plays and show up to practice, lift, recovery, all those different things. When I also have BSAG on the schedule, it can definitely be a lot to juggle at times, but it has helped me to prioritize a lot.

What are you most excited for in your role with BSAG this year?

I’m definitely most excited for the basketball tournament. Last year, we had one in March when Black History Month events were in March, and it was called the Black History Month Tournament. This year, it’s called Obie Madness, and it’s going to be in April. I’m definitely excited for that because we get a lot of participation in the basketball tournament because it’s not just athletes, it’s people across campus — people in the Conservatory can join, and people in the community come out to watch. I’m glad I can  spread the word about the different Black athletes on campus and share their accomplishments because there aren’t a lot of them in different spaces and on different teams. It’s nice to highlight it.

Both teams wasted no time breaking a multitude of school records. On the first of four days of competition, the women’s 200- yard medley relay team, consisting of second-years Elinor Frost, Ava Peyton, and Skye Slade and fourth-year Elly Ragone, finished in fourth place with a record time of one minute, 49.29 seconds.

Slade was especially proud of her performance after missing out on most of her events at the 2022 NCAC Championships due to contracting COVID-19.

“Being a part of a record-breaking relay was kind of like a redemption in a way, because I wasn’t even able to compete last year,” Slade said. “I am so proud of my three relay teammates, and it got my meet off to a really great start.”

The men’s 200-yard medley relay team, consisting of second-years Myles Felt, Erik Fendorf, and Isaac Viviano and first-year Dani Bocsi, finished in a record 1:32.80. The team’s time was good enough to win bronze and earn Oberlin a podium finish.

Record-breaking feats continued on the second day thanks to the efforts of Frost, Ragone, second-year Isabel Pfaff, and third- year Hannah Hale. The four Yeowomen previously held the school record in the 200-yard free relay with a time of 1:38.52. They narrowly bested their record, finishing in fifth place with a time of1:38.25.

Fendorf earned himself another top-10 finish in the 50-yard freestyle, taking ninth place with a time of 21.05 — only four hundredths of a second off from the school record of 21.01 set by Adam Winikoff in 2016.

Felt, Fendorf, Viviano, and Bocsi teamed up again to tackle the 200-yard freestyle relay, which they finished in 1:25.36, earning them sixth place and the third best time in school history. Their efforts kept the Yeomen in sixth place, while the Yeowomen ended the day in fifth.

The third day of competition saw even more records broken. Fendorf and Felt were at it again, the former eclipsing his own personal and school record in the 100-yard butterfly with a seventh-place time of 49.80 and the latter taking down a nine-year- old school record in the 100-yard backstroke with a ninth-place time of 51.64.

Finishing in ninth place seemed to become a trend for the Yeowomen on Friday. Frost earned ninth in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 59.18. Second-year Helene Prince, a diver for the Yeowomen, earned ninth place in the one-meter event, finishing her night at 263 points. Peyton capped off the night on a high note for the Yeowomen, also earning ninth place in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 59.05.

The Yeowomen continued their successes on Saturday, with Peyton finishing the 100-yard individual medley in 1:02.10, earning her an eighth place finish and the second-best time in program history. She then earned another top-10 finish alongside Ragone, Pfaff, and Frost in the 4×100 relay, finishing fifth in 3:39.99. Solo second-year swimmers Ava Schigur, Lucy Lee, and Rosalie Baron finished in 10th, 11th, and 13th place respectively in the 200-yard fly.

For the Yeomen, first-year Miguel Siwady, swimming in the 1,650-yard freestyle, finished seventh with a time of 16:04.09. Fourth-year Lucas Draper, the Yeomen’s sole diver, finished in 10th place with a career-high total of 266.95 points.

Viviano, Fendorf, Siwady, and Bocsi concluded the already successful meet with a bang. The team finished in 3:08.22, which bested the school record in the 4×100 relay. Not only did their time earn them a fifth-place finish, but it took down a school record that had not been beaten since 1995.

Denison and Kenyon College won the meet overall for men’s and women’s, respectively. Overall, the Yeomen and Yeowomen combined for 33 top-10 finishes and six school records.

The first time I registered the existence of LeBron James was in 2006, when I was in kindergarten and getting into sports. My dad always put Cleveland Cavaliers games on the TV when they were on, so I took an immediate interest. The first thing I noticed, even as a six-year-old, was that LeBron was different from everybody on the floor. He was stronger, faster, and smarter, and utilized his skills better than anyone else.

What my dad made sure I learned as I got to know LeBron the player was who he was before he became an NBA star. His tough upbringing involving childhood homelessness in Akron, OH, is now well known, but it continues to stick with me today. How could a kid that missed 83 days of school in fourth grade due to his unstable home life become so unbelievably successful?

I couldn’t relate to his life story, but I was inspired by it. It made me feel like I could do anything as I watched the kid from Akron take Cleveland to its first NBA Finals appearance in team history in 2007.

2007-08: 10,689 points

One of the first times I ever saw LeBron in person was in the 2008 NBA Playoffs against a veteran Boston Celtics squad that had Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen. The Cavs pulled out a 74–69 win thanks to LeBron, who tallied 32 points and six assists, meaning he had a hand in over 50 percent of the team’s points. When I got to first grade the next day, I was so excited to tell my gym teacher — who allegedly met LeBron at some point — that I was at the game.

The Decision and the Miami Heat years: 15,251 points

Although I loved LeBron during his first stint in Cleveland, I wasn’t mature enough to give him a break when he made the first — and pretty much only — big mistake of his career. In July 2010, he infamously announced he was leaving Cleveland for Miami during an hour-long special on ESPN called “The Decision.” The event led to the burning of his jerseys all around Northeast Ohio, and I would have set mine ablaze too if it wasn’t for my belief in the “don’t play with matches” line they told us in school.

Seeing what LeBron did in Miami was extremely painful. His team won all the time — two titles in four years — and he seemed to have so much fun while it happened. How could he leave Cleveland in the dust like nothing happened when he had been the biggest sports figure in Northeast Ohio for years?

The Return: 23,170 points

In Summer 2014, LeBron’s contract was up with Miami, and the discussion over where he would land heated up again. I remember I was at the dentist when former ESPN analyst Chris Broussard OC ’90 tweeted on July 6, 2014, “Cleveland has replaced Miami as my frontrunner to land LeBron James…”

Five days later, LeBron announced he was coming back home in an essay published in Sports Illustrated. It rejuvenated Cleveland, which had seen zero playoff wins by any of its teams during LeBron’s tenure in Miami. The only frustration for me was that my old jersey was now three sizes too small.

Ending the Drought: 26,833 points

I was 15 and watching with my dad on June 19, 2016, when LeBron James and the Cavaliers ended Cleveland’s 52-year pro sports championship drought. His famous block on Golden State’s Andre Igudola is cemented into my mind as it is in every other Cleveland sports fan’s. The fact that his most famous moment was a defensive hustle play encapsulates who he is as a player — great in every facet of the game. Unlike his championship celebrations in Miami where he was smiling and palling around with his teammates, LeBron broke down during his postgame interview and yelled, “CLEVELAND, THIS IS FOR YOU!”

2018 Carry and Second Departure: 32,958 points

By 2018, the quality of the Cavs roster was diminished by player turnover, including the departure of a key point guard. What LeBron did with this team was something I have never seen another athlete do. With a roster of zero other x-factor players, he put the team on his back and willed them to a Finals appearance, sporting double ice packs on his knees after each game. The team eventually lost to an unfairly stacked Golden State roster led by Steph Curry and Kevin Durant, but I can say that year was the most impressive individual performance by a single athlete I’ve ever seen.

When LeBron left Cleveland for the second time that summer, I couldn’t even be mad about it. He brought Cleveland a championship and did all he could to do it again. As an extremely mature high school senior, I wished him the best as he joined the Lakers.

February 7, 2023: 38,390 points

After a tumultuous four and a half seasons in LA that included an NBA championship but also a couple of losing seasons, LeBron closed in on what was once thought to be an unbreakable record. For 38 years, Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had the all-time NBA points record with 38,387. Last Tuesday, LeBron passed him with a fadeaway jumper over Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kenrich Williams in Los Angeles.

When I watched the shot go in, I wasn’t reminded of Cavs highlights or any other of his NBA moments. What I immediately thought of was LeBron’s roots in Akron. A kid who had been dealt as bad a hand as anyone achieved one of the most impressive milestones in sports history. I’m 22, and I already can’t wait to tell my grandkids about him.

Before the game began, however, Lombard was unaware of the previous school record and was primarily focused on breaking her own personal record as the game went on.

“I was really just trying to break my career high, which was six,” Lombard said. “I had already hit six by halftime, so I was just telling my teammates that I wanted to hit one more and break my own record. I hadn’t even thought about what the program record was at that point.”

After emerging from the game, Lombard was surrounded by her encouraging teammates and coaches.

“My teammates have been extremely supportive,” she said. “After the game, I walked into the classroom and they all dumped water on me and we celebrated. It was really sweet.”

Lily Najmulski, a first-year guard, was impressed by Lombard’s accomplishments, but moreso with her teammate’s leadership.

“As a first-year shooting guard, seeing Gina break the three-point record was inspiring,” Najmulski said. “I feel lucky to play alongside Gina, and I can’t wait to keep learning from her. Gina is an important part of the team, both on and off the court. Even while she was setting the record, she was encouraging me to shoot the ball. Gina is a competitor who wants to play well and pushes others to do the same.”

Camille Zinaich, a second-year guard and forward on the team, scored 12 points throughout this game and was also awed by Lombard’s abilities and the team’s victory on the court.

“I was really happy with the win and scoring a hundred points, since Oberlin women’s basketball hasn’t scored a hundred points since 2002,” Zinaich said. “Gina has been a consistent leader on and off the court and, with momentum from the Wooster game, the team is well positioned for our final games and the tournament.”

After her outstanding performance on Saturday, Lombard has high hopes for the remainder of the season. “I think if I had to pick my next goal, it’d be to break the 3s made in a single season,” she said.

Najmulski also highlighted how essential the victory against Wooster was for the team.

“Beating Wooster this year was important because it will, hopefully, give us momentum as we continue our conference play and into the conference tournament,” Najmulski said.

Beating Wooster was no small feat, and it demonstrated how the women’s basketball team continues to put up impressive performances on the court. Since the Wooster game, the Yeowomen defeated Hiram College Wednesday, Feb. 8, 64–47. They face DePauw University Feb. 11 at home 1 p.m.