By Nick Van Heest
The Taylor track and field teams concluded the indoor season with a flourish in the DePauw Classic Saturday. The men's team won seven events on its way to a first place finish, while the women's team claimed three victories to place third.
"We won quite a few events, but I was really pleased with how many personal records we set, almost 40 total," said Head Coach Ted Bowers. "If our indoor results are any indication of how outdoors is going to go, I'm really excited for outdoors."
"We have been so blessed with the copious amount of talent we have on the team this year," said senior Robert Dickey. "Not only do we have fantastic athletes at almost each event, but we have talent that follows in each event, which is huge when adding up the scoring for final results."
"Everyone showed up, especially our distance squad," senior Cerio Rolle added. "Everyone on the distance squad had a personal or season's best time."
Sophomore Kenny Higgins and freshman Brandan Wilchcombe led the men's team with two wins apiece. Higgins claimed the shot put with a toss of 14.34 meters and the weight throw with a heave of 16.52 meters.
Wilchcombe blazed to victory in the 60 meter hurdles in 8.28 seconds, just .06 seconds faster than junior Luke Currens. Sophomore Gage Minniear took third to round out an event sweep for the Trojans. Wilchcombe also took first in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.58.
Dickey contributed a victory by soaring 12.98 meters in the triple jump.
"The keys to winning the triple jump were as simple as coming to the meet focused and determined to get the job done," Dickey said. "Triple jump requires a disciplined performance of good technique in order to do well at it."
Sophomore Ethan Evans won the 5,000 meters in 15:33.38, while Rolle claimed the 800 in 1:58.51.
"The key to winning was patience, timing, and trying to temper my finish to avoid aggravating an injury that sidelined me the previous week," Rolle said.
Taylor freshmen Katie DeHaan and Jane Hawks led the women's team with with wins in the 400 and 1,000 meters. DeHaan out-legged the field in the 400 with a time of 1:00.18, while Hawks prevailed in the 1,000 in 3:09.24.
DeHaan joined senior Emily Pershbacher, junior Erin Price and sophomore Kehlay Dunah on the first place 4x400 relay, which won in 4:12.80.
Sophomore Jenna Norris finished fourth in the 800 meters, but her time of 2:21.25 broke the Taylor record.
The next event for the Trojans is the NAIA Indoor Championship, beginning Feb. 28 in Geneva, Ohio.
For the men's team, Higgins will compete in the weight throw, Wilchcombe and Currens will compete in the 60 meter hurdles and Wilchcombe will run the 60 meter dash. On the women's side, senior Henrietta Carey will run the 60 meter dash, while eight Trojans will compete on the 4x800 and distance medley relay teams.
Although only a few athletes qualified for the NAIA Indoor Championship, the rest of the team has been supportive.
"As a team, we're continuing to work hard to push those who have qualified," senior Ali Swart said. "We're staying motivated and continuing to push our limits, so we're ready to go come outdoor season."
