Among the terrific performances for Oberlin was a victory in the 1,000 yard freestyle by first-year swimmer Grace Aheron. Aheron bested the field with a time of 10:51.03. Swimming in her first dual meet for Oberlin, Aheron now ranks second in Oberlin school history in the 1000-yard freestyle.

One of the best races of the day was the women’s 100-yard backstroke, won by Denison’s Lindsay Zeberlein. Aheron finished second just 38 hundredths of a second behind Zeberlein. Oberlin senior Laura Fries also swam a fantastic race finishing just 14 hundredths of a second behind her teammate Aheron.

Another bright spot for the women was sophomore Kate Melanson who swam a 1:01.9 split time in her leg of the 400 yard medley relay.

On the men’s side, first-year James Foust swam a 49.60 100-yard free, finishing about a half a second slower than event winner Joe Katich of Denison.

Head Coach Mark Fino said, “Both of our teams really gave a tremendous effort today. Denison is a tough team to face off against in any forum, much less head-to-head. I feel good about the way we competed and just stayed focused on getting better and swimming faster. Regardless of the team scores, we definitely got better today!”

Oberlin will swim again in two weeks when they travel to Case Western to compete at the Veale Classic on November 13-14, 2009.