When the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference champions are crowned this weekend in Memphis, Tenn., the seniors on DePauw's track and field teams hope it will finally be their turn.
The women have finished second to Rhodes College at the conference championships the past three seasons, while the men have garnered second- and fourth-place finishes behind Rhodes and Trinity College.
With this weekend marking their final trip to the SCAC Championships before moving to the North Coast Athletic Conference next season, it would be a storybook ending for DePauw to go out on top.
However, the Tigers know that it will take a total team effort to fulfill that goal.
"It's not just the distance runners or the field event crew — it will take everybody," said senior co-captain Courtney Lauer.
The men's team is coming off a seventh-place finish at the Rose-Hulman Twilight Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind., last weekend. The Tigers have also posted strong team performances against Div. II and III programs throughout the season, experiences they hope will give them an edge this weekend.
Senior co-captain Tyler Doane says the team is both physically and mentally prepared heading into the meet.
"It's going to take everybody on the team, whether that's cheering guys on in different events or going out there and competing in your own," Doane said. "Everybody wants to do their best, and hopefully we can come away with a victory this weekend."
DePauw's 4x100-meter relay team of sophomore Myron Burr, senior Steve Wojanis, junior Charles Pierre and senior Robert Steele is ranked first in the conference heading into this weekend's championships. The squad clocked a time of 43.11 seconds for a second-place showing at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology last week.
The squad also has many opportunities to score points in individual events. Sophomore Noah Droddy garnered SCAC Men's Track Athlete of the Week honors last week after notching an NCAA provisional qualifying time in the 5K at Rose-Hulman. Droddy's time of 14:44.96 is first among SCAC runners this season and also ranks third all-time in DePauw history.
After tallying a second-place finish at Rose-Hulman last week, the women are also prepared for a run at the SCAC title. While they know they will face a high level of competition — including defending champion and 12th-ranked Rhodes — the Tigers believe they are primed to peak at just the right time.
Lauer is currently ranked first in the conference in the long jump at 5.26 meters, and is also ranked second in the high jump and triple jump events heading into this weekend. The Tigers' lineup also features several athletes ranked near the top in middle distance and field events, including sophomore Kathleen Molloy in the 800-meter run, sophomore Jess Macy in the 5K and freshman Brittany Sievers in the discus.
The women have had several strong showings this season and hope to score points in many events in their chase of the SCAC title.
"We all know that we've got the potential to do some good things and bring home a lot of points," Lauer said. "It's been a lot of buildup to this meet and everybody's excited."
Despite the runner-up finishes at conference in recent years, Doane said the Tigers' attention will be focused solely on their own performances this weekend.
"They're definitely great teams with great athletes, but we're not going to worry about what they're doing. We're just going to worry about ourselves," Doane said. "We're just going to go down there and do our best, and hopefully everything falls into place."