One week after junior Jake Pezzuto and sophomore Keely McGrath brought their NCAC Player of the Week awards back to Greencastle, two more DePauw athletes were given the honor.
Junior standout Paige Henry earned the NCAC player of the week award after scoring goals in each of field hockey's two consecutive wins against conference rivals, Kenyon College and Denison University. Henry, who played high school field hockey at Kentucky Country Day School in Louisville, hopes to keep performing at a high level. The Tigers play tomorrow at Oberlin College.
Siri Retrum, a senior from Columbus, Ind., got the NCAC Runner of the Week award after running the 5K course in 18:25.5 at this weekend's Calvin College Knight Invitational.
The Tigers finished fifth in the race overall. Calvin College placed first in the 5K.
Retrum's individual performance in the race ranked fifth in best 5K finishes in DePauw's history. She placed 10th out of 316 runners. Sophomore Heather O'Brien was DePauw's runner-up leader, placing 20th after finishing in 18:42.7. The NCAC announced Retrum's Runner of the Week award on Sept. 16. DePauw University's website broke the story the following day.
Retrum first learned of her accomplishment at cross-country practice after the NCAC press release. She said the award was "above and beyond what I expected."
Despite coming from a family of Division 1 swimmers, Retrum decided to pursue cross-country in her freshman year of high school. She believes that this honor is possible for any of her teammates.
"The girls I run with in practice, I'm no better than they are," Retrum said. "There's so many opportunities for other runners to do the same thing."
Athletic Director Stevie Baker-Watson has praised the accomplishments of Retrum, Henry, Pezzuto and McGrath over the past two weeks.
"We're proud of what our athletes have accomplished so far," Baker-Watson said. "We're talking about building a legacy, not just winning a season ... Because of the strength in our past, DePauw is an attractive place for the next level to come."