DePauw University men's and women's track and field teams needed stellar individual performances to compensate for disappointing overall finishes at the DePauw Invitational at Blackstock Stadium this weekend.
The women's track and field team came in sixth place out of the 10 teams that participated in the 19 events, with an overall score of 69.5. The men fared no better overall, coming in 10th out of 11 teams at the invitational with 25 points.
Vincennes University came in first place at the Invitational, scoring 147.5 total points. Vincennes had several first-place individual performances this past weekend, including the men's triple jump, men's long jump and first and second place at the men's high jump.
For DePauw, several promising individual performances were the highlight of their weekend. For one, senior Kyle Mackey cleared 15-7 (4.75 meters) in the men's pole vault, finishing second in the contest. Mackey has had an impressive season thus far, including a pole vault win at the DePauw Classic in late February.
Sophomore transfer Paul Watts came in fifth place at the 3,000 meter run, finishing in 8:56.65. Despite the team's low final standing, Watts said that he was happy with the teams' performance.
"I wouldn't go as far as satisfied, but we certainly performed well," Watts said. "This past weekend will possibly be the most competitive meet we'll compete in with D1 teams like Valpo and D2 teams like St. Joe racing. It's always hard to stack up against teams where they can give scholarships, but we were very competitive. Of course there's room to improve, but I don't think that tenth place is reflective of the work we've put in and the races that we've had."
Watts also contends that having people like senior Stu Newstat leading their pack turned positive effects overall for the team.
Sophomore Quinton Miller contends that the Tiger's low standing was simply a result of the good competition they went up against this past weekend.
"As a team, a couple of events where we usually score and we didn't or didn't score as many due to the higher level of competition," Miller said. "Individual performances were good time-wise."
The individual performances were equally as impressive on the women's team. Sophomore Heather O'Brien stole the show with a first-place finish in the 5,000 meter competition, a highlight of the Tigers' weekend overall.
The race was also the highlight of O'Brien's season thus far as well.
"It was my first 5k of the season, and I was only 3 seconds away from my personal record," O'Brien said. "It gives me confidence and goes to show there is plenty of room for improvement."
Along with O'Brien's first-place finish, senior Siri Retrum came in third place with a score of 18:16.09. Junior Celia Kauth also had a strong individual performance, finishing second place in the high jump. Though they compete individually, O'Brien credits her teammates for all her successes.
"My teammates help remind me that we are putting in all this hard work for a reason," O'Brien said. "It's not always fun to suffer through hard work outs, but it sure is fun to see it all pay off."
The Tigers men's and women's teams are back in action Saturday, at the Indiana Division III Invitational. Watts is optimistic about the Tiger's chances at the invitational.
"Every team will have some guys who win events, but whatever team can get the most guys scoring mid-level points will win," Watts said. "We have a lot of guys with the talent and training to grab those points, and we could really sneak up on the other teams."