Saturday, April 7 brought two things: a beautiful spring day and the only outdoor meet DePauw will host this season. Both the men's and women's track and field teams competed.
The women finished the meet in second behind three first-place finishes and 136.33 points, while the men placed sixth with one event winner and 48 points. Saint Joseph's College (Rensselaer, Ind.) and Wabash College were the meet champions for the two sides with 173.5 and 186 points, respectively.
The meet was the first scored outdoor meet for the Tigers - they ran their first outdoor meet the weekend before Spring Break at the un-scored Rose-Hulman Early Bird. Like most of the meets this year, each side saw a variety of competition from Div. I Valparaiso to Div. II Saint Joseph's along with Div. III regulars like Rose-Hulman and Wabash.
"What's great about our sport is that you're always getting a time and you're always getting a distance," Men's and Women's Head Coach Kori Stoffregen said. "So no matter who you are competing against, you can always compare that time to last week or to a year ago. It's just more about what the clock says."
For the most part, the clock has been kind to the Tigers for the season and a gorgeous day on Saturday allowed some of the success to continue for individuals on both squads.
"We did have a wide variety of teams here, but I felt like both teams competed really well," Stoffregen said. "It's amazing; as soon as you get a beautiful day like that, the kids can take their game to another level. We got lot of really great performances, and we we're really pleased how the meet went."
One of those great performances came from junior Brittany Sievers whose throw of 41.26 meters in the discus throw event earned her a first- place finish and ranks her in the top-20 throws in the country.
"I was just thinking about getting (the throw) inbounds," Sievers explained. "After I released it felt really good - and it went far - but I had no idea how far it was until I got back...I've been working more on it in practice. The meet here had perfect weather, and there wasn't any wind. I just really relaxed and was ready to go throw.
The throw was a personal best for Sievers, who only last week was throwing around 37. The rank also gives Sievers a chance to make the Div. III national championships in May.
Freshman Hope Jordan also had a strong day with a first place finish in the 1500 meter run and third place finish the 800 meter run. Sophomore Siri Retrum was the women's team third first-place finisher in the 5000 meter run.
On the men's side, sophomore Kyle Mackey earned his usual first place finish in the pole vault with a personal best of 15 feet, 7 inches. Other than that, the results on the day seem disappointing for the men, but Stoffregen stressed that he does see progress in the team.
"The reason the men aren't scoring real well is just because we don't have a lot of depth," Stoffregen said. "But across the board, it seems like we're really progressing well and getting some good performances out of everyone. I feel like the guys' team is going the right direction."
Other strong performances for the men's team came from senior Tyler Giesting in the 800 meter run and freshman decathlete Jack Leibovitz who competed in a variety of events on Saturday from the 100 meter dash to the high jump - all as preparation for the decathlon. Leibovitz placed second at the NCAC indoor championships earlier this year.
Both teams will travel to Franklin next Saturday, April 14, for the Indiana Div. III meet.