In their final trip to the Southern Collegiate Athletic Con- ference Championships this weekend, the men's and women's track and field teams came away with some of their best perfor- mances of the season.
DePauw's women placed second as a team, scoring 150 points during the two-day meet in sunny Memphis, Tenn., while the men scored 138.5 points to take fourth place. The weekend marked the Tigers' final opportunity to participate in the SCAC Championships before they join the North Coast Ath- letic Conference next year.
Rhodes College won the women's meet for the fourth year in a row, totaling 204.5 points, while Centre College finished third behind DePauw at 128 points.
On the men's side, Centre won its first SCAC title ever with a score of 168.5 points. Rhodes took second at 152 points and Trinity University scored 145 points to finish third.
While they came up short in their bids to capture confer- ence titles, head coach Kori Stoffregen said he was pleased with all of the Tigers' accomplishments.
"Once we got down there, people really sensed that it's spe- cial being part of this conference," Stoffregen said. "We wanted to do the best we could to end on a good note, and I think we did."
A number of athletes from both squads earned all-confer- ence honors, with several also notching new personal bests.
Senior Courtney Lauer was tabbed the 2011 SCAC Women's Track and Field Athlete of the meet after totaling 42 points in eight different events. Her all-SCAC performances included a first-place finish in the javelin throw for a new school record and personal best, as well as an NCAA provisional qualifying mark. Lauer also placed second in the shot put, the triple jump and the long jump.
"That was a goal of mine at the beginning of the season, so to work toward it and get it felt really great," Lauer said of the Athlete of the Meet distinction.
Senior Robert Steele was also a conference champion, winning the men's 400-meter dash for his second year. Steele picked up additional all-SCAC honors with his third-place finish in the 200. Meanwhile, freshman Kyle Mackey earned the first all-conference honors of his career with a first-place finish in the pole vault.
"I'm just very thankful ... to be able to run for one more con- ference meet, one last time," Steele said. "It was a very unifying experience – from the throwers to the jumpers to the sprinters, all the distance [runners] – I saw dedication."
While the SCAC Championships mark the end of the sea- son for a majority of the athletes, Steele said everyone should be proud of their performances this weekend, especially those who were competing for the last time in their careers.
"It was an honor to be running and jumping and doing all these events," he said. "[I have] a lot of friends that I've made on this team, a lot of people I've grown real close with ... DePauw has a great team."