The Tigers’ final tune-up before the indoor conference championships proved successful, as the men’s team placed third and the women’s team placed sixth at the Fred Wilt Invitational in Anderson on Saturday.
“We faced tougher competition than we’ve encountered so far,” said first-year distance runner Paul Christian. “On the other hand, a lot of people are just starting to get back into racing shape, so we should only get better moving forward.”
The meet included teams such as Union College and conference rival Wabash College.
The men’s team once again was headlined by senior Marcus Dozier, who won the shot put (16.84 meters) for the fourth time in a row this season.
DePauw also collected solid results from their distance runners. First-year Zach Batt (4:32.92) was second in the mile while senior Paul Watts (15:38.50) finished third in the 5K. Christian (8:48.72) finished fifth in the 3K, followed by a seventh-place finish from sophomore Polo Burguete (8:54.09).
The women were led by string of second place finishes, coming from first-year Kaitlyn Daanen in the 60 meters (8.06 seconds) and 200 meters (26.32 seconds) as well as senior Maggie Royalty in the long jump (5.09 meters).
“We made some great improvements in all events,” first-year Dilan Palmer said. “The team is looking to work on having our best performance of the year at conference this weekend.”
Despite still having runners sidelined by sickness or injury, Head Coach Kori Stoffregen agrees with Palmer.
“We always seem to take our game to another level during the conference meet,” Stoffregen said.
The Tigers will be traveling to Kenyon College this weekend to compete in the conference championship, their final indoor match up of the season.