Swimming | 10/10/2026 11:05:00 PM

Oberlin, Ohio – Delivering over 30 personal bests over the course of the Homecoming Weekend, the Oberlin College swim & dive team hosted the Oberlin Early Invite as their season opener. 

Prior to the second session, the Crimson and Gold celebrated their eight seniors, Yasmeen Boulaknadal, Tripp Hawkins, Elizabeth Huettig, Sebastian Lagasse, Gretchen Lotter, Ari Marrero, Chahine Saïd, and Yuan Wang.

"This was a great start to our season! Our team posted over 30 personal best swims and dive scores. The Early Invite is a tough meet to start with, but we design it that way to help set us up for the bigger meets coming up such as the Midseason Invite, NCAC Championships, and NCAA Championships," Head Coach Alex de la Peña adds. "We have a great senior class to help lead the way and start the season with a strong effort across the board." 

The men's team posted a fourth-place finish with 366 points, defeating Division II programs Walsh and Malone and North Coast rival Wittenberg. The women's team finished fourth, also beating Walsh, Malone, and Wittenberg with 446.5 points. Case Western Reserve claimed both team titles, with the men's team scoring 1455.5 points and the women's team finishing with 1191.5 points. 

The Crimson and Gold kicked off the morning session with the women's 200 medley relay. The quartet of Boulaknadal, Yoo Soomin, Kendall McKelvey, and Marrero finished eighth with a time of 1:58.01. Katherine Noller impressed in the 400 individual medley relay, placing fourth overall and touching the pads in 5:02.49, over seven seconds faster than her seed time. Rookie Jackson Shepler registered another strong 400 IM performance, placing eighth and clocking in a time of 4:29.17, over 15 seconds faster than his seed time. 

Kye Marrero earned a bronze finish out of 25 racers in the 200 free, notching a time of 1:45.59. In the 100 breast, Yoo notched a fifth-place finish in the field of 25, posting a time of 1:10.83. 

The Crimson and Gold went back-to-back in the 800 free relay, with the team of Noller, Hailey Hamilton, Kaylee Johnson, and Lotter placing sixth with a time of 8:35.39. The squad of McKelvey, Kat Heck, Cadyn Blanchard, and Aubrey Chisholm followed just behind in seventh with a time of 8:45.37.

Closing out the morning session, Oberlin boasted another two sets of relays in the men's 800 free. The team of Shepler, Martin Gomez, Emerson Rutherford-Parish, and K. Marrero finished fifth overall with a time of 7:20.27, while the squad of Philip Cauwels, Sean Carrera, Timothy Freel, and Mark Sferra placed eighth with a time of 7:40.95.

In the one-meter dive, Lagasse impressed with a runner-up finish, recording 191.15 points. Lagasse followed with another strong performance in the three-meter boards with a score of 165.05 points.

Following the senior day ceremony, the afternoon session kicked off with a third-place finish from Noller in the 1650 free, touching the pads in 18:49.19. Hawkins followed with another strong distance performance for Oberlin, placing eighth with a time of 19:56.53. 

The men's team saw three top-eight performances in the 1650 free as Gomez led the Crimson and Gold in fourth, producing a time of 17:14.27, over 45 seconds ahead of his seed time. Shepler followed close behind Gomez in fifth place with a time of 17:28.69, over 30 seconds ahead of his seed. Sferra rounded out the top eight, finishing in 18:10.95. 

In the 200 back, Hamilton swam to a seventh-place finish, posting a time of 2:18.87. Gomez continued the Oberlin momentum in the men's 200 back, swimming 2:00.96 to finish seventh. 

In the 100 free, A. Marrero captured an impressive seventh-place finish out of 46 swimmers, clocking in a time of 55.48. John Polylogidis recorded another dominating swim in the 100 free, placing sixth out of 36 racers with a time of 48.20. Yoo followed in the 200 breast, finishing fourth with an overall time of 2:36.47. 

In the 200 butterfly, Johnson placed eighth, notching a time of 2:21.19. In the men's 200 butterfly, Rutherford-Parish recorded a sixth-place finish with a time of 2:02.03. Closing out Homecoming Weekend for Oberlin, the 400 free relay team of K. Marrero, Rutherford-Parish, Shepler, and Polylogidis placed seventh with a time of 3:18.40. 

The Crimson and Gold resume competition on Friday, October 30, at Ashland. The first event is scheduled for 6 p.m. 

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