As anticipated, senior Noah Droddy will advance to the Div. III Cross Country Championships. At the NCAA regional meet in Anderson, Ind., Droddy qualified for Nationals for a third straight appearance with a time of 24 minutes, 58.29 seconds. He placed fifth among more than 160 runners.
"We're very excited that Noah qualified, he had a nice race, but it wasn't his best," head coach Kori Stoffregen said. "We're saving that for next weekend."
Following Droddy was junior Stu Newstat and freshman Brian Myers, in 56th and 100th place respectively. The men took 13th place out of 40 schools and had a solid race in Stoffregen's eyes.
The DePauw women placed 10th among 33 schools, led by standout Heather O'Brien. The freshman finished 16th with a personal best time of 22:11.37, but just one place below the qualifying position to send her to the Div. III National Championships.
"Looking back on it, there are times I get upset because it was one place, three seconds," O'Brien said. "Then I remind myself it's my first year, and I got some good experience under my belt. This race will give me something to remember next season for motivation."
This was a close race for O'Brien, but also for the entire team as they weren't able to bring one of their stronger runners.
"One of our top [sophomore] girls Hope Jordan didn't run because of an injury, that's unfortunate when our top kids can't compete for us," Stoffregen said.
Junior Siri Retrum and senior Emily Freiny came in behind O'Brien in the women's race in 45th and 79th place, respectively.
Droddy will return to Terre Haute next Saturday, a course that proved in his favor in his last showing. He finished 1st in the Gibson Family Pre-National Meet, 16 seconds ahead of competition.
"It'll be a good weekend for the entire team because nationals is so close and easy to go and support," Stoffregen said. "We want the whole team to see a national meet so they can be dreaming about that for themselves someday."