Senior Marcus Dozier gets ready to throw a discus during a rainy practice Monday. Dozier currently has the longest discus throw this season in Division III with a 57.13 meter throw on April 16. He will be returning to the Division III track and field championship for the second year on May 27-29. SAM CARAVANA / THE DEPAUW
From an early age, current DePauw senior Marcus Dozier knew that he wanted to be strong.
“When I was younger, I always wanted to be the strongest man in the world," Dozier said. "I’ve always been drawn to strength. My uncle was a bodybuilder and my other uncle was a power-lifter, so I think that’s where it comes from.”
22-year-old Dozier's strength is what he is now known for in the track and field circuit, and that strength has helped establish him as one of the top Division III athletes in the country.
Dozier's tenure with the DePauw track and field team has been triumphant, to say the least. A three-time letterwinner at DePauw, he has won a total of 35 throwing events throughout his college athletic carrer and he currently holds the school records for shot put and discus.
What makes these accomplishments so distinct is the fact that track and field was not even his first choice of sport. Dozier started out his high school athletic career as a wrestler, but once his strength drew the attention of the track and field coach, that all changed.
“My track and field career started when I was a sophomore in high school," he said. "I was actually approached by the head coach and he said to me, 'Hey you’re a big, strong kid. Why don’t you come out for the track team?'"
Once Dozier decided to take the coach up on his offer, he embarked on what would become a sensational athletic career. Although he decided to take up track and field, he never gave up on his other high school sports. In fact, he even added one more sport to his resume during his senior year of high school when he decided to give football a shot.
The journey from finally picking up the sport as a sophomore in high school to becoming a dominant force at DePauw was not always so smooth. Dozier said the key to getting to where he is today has been overcoming the internal struggles that used to plague him.
“For me, it’s always been mental," he said. "I’ve definitely fixed it over the years, but sophomore year I was just a headcase. If I ever screwed up one throw, that was it for me. That was something I really had to work on."
But with time comes learning, and Dozier has developed new ways of getting over his weakness.
“I now like to think of every throw as my first throw. I know if I think of my last throw, I’m setting myself up for failure on the next one,” he said.
Getting over this mental block he faced sophomore year was huge for his career, as he won 17 events and an NCAC shot put title in his junior year. This is a big improvement from previous seasons, as he only won five events in his freshman and sophomore year combined.
Now in his senior season, Dozier has finally come into his own, and he has been making major strides along the way. He won 30 events over the course of the past two seasons, he has two NCAC titles, and has inked himself quite a few spots in the record books.
“This year alone, I think I’ve broken four or five records. Overall, I probably have over 10. And that’s not at just DePauw; I’ve broken field records at other schools," he said. "At the moment, I probably have over ten records between shot and disc.”
Although he doesn’t have much time left at DePauw, Dozier still has future plans for his athletic career. Dozier’s sensational throw of 57.13 meters at the Indiana Division III Track and Field Championships this past April gives him a realistic shot at taking his talent further. The throw was the eleventh best in Division III history and the 25th best throw in the country, in addition to being only five meters short of the Olympic qualifiers.
“Definitely now more than ever, I’ve realized that five meters is not that much," Dozier said. "I told myself that if I hit 60, that I will definitely try to pursue that.”
Dozier belives that, although the Olympics are among the most intense and difficult athletic tests out there, the experience outweighs the results.
“I’ve been thinking that, with Olympic level coaching and training, that maybe I can get up to that 62 and enter the Olympic trials," he said. "Whether I make it to the Olympics or not, it would be really cool to say that I got to compete in the Olympic trials. And if I make it to the Olympics, even if I lose, how many people can say that they competed in the Olympics?”
Regardless of what happens on his journey to the Olympics, it is undeniable that Dozier’s career at DePauw will stand out as one of the most significant for years to come. There is no easy way to say goodbye to an athlete like Dozier, but his legacy as a Tiger will continue to live on as his career comes to a close.