Tim Hreha (left) looks on as junior Marcus Dozier (right) practices shot put
behind Blackstock Stadium on Monday. Over the weekend, Dozier posted
a discus throw of 53.36 meters, the longest in Division III in the nation.
SAM CARAVANA / THE DEPAUW
Junior Marcus Dozier and senior Celia Kauth highlighted DePauw University track and field’s performance at the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships held at Ohio Wesleyan University over the weekend.
The women came home with a seventh place finish out of eight schools, while the men earned a third place finish, competing in a field with eight teams.
“It’s really difficult to beat Wabash and OWU because they have so much depth,” senior Aaron Krabill said. “So third place for us is kind of like first place in conference.”
Kauth earned the only first place finish of the day for the women, bringing home gold in the high jump with a mark of 1.58 meters.
Also of note for the Tiger was junior Heather O’Brien in the 5,000 meter race who crossed the line in just under 18:36. Sophomore Claudia Monnett finished just one spot behind O’Brien, completing the race two seconds after her.
“I stayed in the second pack until the last 800 meters of the race, then just finished with everything I had left and it worked out to earn me an all-conference finish,” O’Brien said. “I was very happy with my patience in this race, because it was not a pace I was expecting, but I knew taking the beginning of the race slow would work in my favor in the end.”
The Tigers were also spurred on by a pair of solid finishes from its relays.
Sophomores Jazzkia Jones and Amanda Weber along with juniors Maggie Royalty and Ellie Sheffield earned a third place finish in the 4x100 race, crossing the line in just under 50 seconds. Weber, sophomore Odessa Fernandes and first-years Miranda Dafoe and Cami Etgen were seventh in the 4x400 with a time of 4:11.77.
When the day was done, the Tigers totalled 47 points and finished 204 points behind Ohio Wesleyan who won the title with 251 points.
On the men’s side, it was the field events that carried the Tigers to their third place finish at the conference meet.
Unsurprisingly, Dozier was once again at top form in the shot put, winning the event with a best throw of 16.14 meters. The win came just one day after Dozier took home first in the discus on Friday. The weekend performance from Dozier was enough for the junior to take home the meet’s Field Events MVP.
“It feels amazing to win three conference titles this year,” Dozier said. “I knew this season was going to be big for me but never this big. I continued to get better and better every week and constantly broke my record over and over. It felt nice to finally showcase my skills at the conference meet to beat the 15 time conference champ from Wabash.”
Joining Dozier’s solid performance was Krabill who was competing in his final NCAC championships.
Krabill placed second in the pole vault, earning the Tigers eight points with a mark of 4.45 meters in the finals.
“I had a goal I was shooting for,” Krabill said. “I wanted to get 15 feet but you can’t really be too upset about getting second place in conference.”
On the track, the Tigers also found plenty of success.
First-year Josh Ebikwo crossed the line in third place of the 100 meter dash with a time of 10.84 seconds. Junior Brian Mincks was fourth in the 800 meter race, crossing the line in just under two minutes. Mincks also brought home sixth in the 1500 meter race with a time of 3:59:80.
The top relay team for the Tigers was made up of senior BJ Teriba, juniors Ray Webb and Amen Galley and Ebikwo. The quartet crossed the line of the 4x100 in 43.13.
DePauw ended the day with 80 total points and finished 176.5 points behind eventual winners, Wabash College.
Now the Tigers move into the portion of their schedule where they will face a pair of optional events for athletes looking to pick up extra points in order to qualify for nationals. The first of these events is the Dr. Keeler Invitational held at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois on Thursday and Friday.
