With the close of the swimming regular season, both DePauw's men's and women's swimming teams have started preparing for the North Coast Ahletic Conference meet being held at Denison University from February 12-15.
"We're starting to ease off the amount of yards we swim each day and we don't have double practices anymore," said junior Casey Hooker.
Before the season began, the men's coaching staff and players laid out a set of goals to be completed.
"We wanted to score 1,000 points at our conference meet and be one of the top ten teams in Division III swimming," said first-year Kyle Winters.
For the women, the season began in late October when they finished fourth out of seven teams in the Indiana Intercollegiates.
After falling to Washington-St. Louis in their first head to head meet, the Tigers would earn their first win of the season with a 168-120 victory over NCAC rival, Wittenberg University.
Angela Newlon led the way for DePauw with individual wins in the 200-meter freestyle, the 200-meter butterfly and the 400-meter individual medley at the Wittenberg University meet.
The Tigers then competed in three straight multi-team invitational meets.
DePauw finished second at the Patrick Woehnker Invitational hosted at Wabash. DePauw followed that up with a disappointing sixth place finish at the Total Performance Sports Camps Invitational at Kenyon College.
The Tigers finished the invitational part of their schedule with a third place spot at the Washington-St. Louis Invitational.
Following a tough loss to Division I Xavier, the Tigers gained momentum with blowout wins over Illinois Wesleyan and Rose-Hulman.
The women closed out the regular season with a 114-173 loss on the road at Chicago University and a massive 216-13 win over the Illinois Institute of Technology.
This gave the Tigers an overall record of 4-3 on the year
DePauw's men's swimming team began their 2013-2014 campaign with a solid third place finish out of seven teams at the Indiana Intercollegiates.
The men then rolled off three straight wins over Washington-St. Louis, Wittenberg, and rival Wabash College.
The Tigers backed up their blowout win over Wabash by taking third at Wabash's Patrick Woehnker Invitational, finishing just behind Olivet Nazarene and Indianapolis.
After the Patrick Woehnker Invitational, DePauw earned a fourth place finish at the Total Performance Sports Camps Invitational, finishing behind large universities such as Penn and Johns Hopkins.
Following a fourth place finish at the Washington-St. Louis invitational, the Tigers took a rough 162-99 loss at Xavier in Cincinnati.
Despite the losses, competing against Division I opponents is beneficial to the Tigers.
"Our top end guys, who would normally finish first or second in the event, have a lot harder races than they normally would competing in Division III," said junior Casey Hooker. "That really pushes us."
DePauw closed out the regular season winning three of their last four meets. This streak included a 195-65 win over Illinois Wesleyan and a narrow 22-point win over Rose-Hulman.
The Tigers then fell on the road at the University of Chicago and closed out the regular season with a 220-40 win over the Illinois Institute of Technology.
The Tigers closed out the regular season with an overall record of 6-2, and both the men's and women's teams will head to Granville, Ohio for the NCAC Championships at Denison University beginning on February 12.