Both the men’s and women’s track and field teams competed at the Depauw Invitational on Saturday, looking to bolster their chances of a strong showing in this weekend’s HCAC Indoor Championships.
The men had a more than decent showing, placing fourth out of twelve teams after earning 72 points.
Garrett Cooley, the reigning HCAC Men’s Indoor Track and Field Runner of the Week, took the long jump crown for the second consecutive meet. Cooley joined Jake Gehman, Derek Mallory and Toluwani Adebakin on the victorious 4 x 200 relay team. Malik Davis took first in the individual 400.
The women’s team finished 11th out of 13 teams, picking up 21 points. Mariah Murray was second in the high jump. The distance melody team of Bailey Wallace, Ashley King, Tess Wise and Alana Moore placed third.
While they did enjoy some success, Gehman acknowledged that it was not the team’s greatest day, but this weekend’s meet is most important.
“We need to get focused and make improvements in our training in order to go into the conference meet prepared to perform to the best of our abilities,” he said.
Heading into the meet, Rose-Hulman is the heavy favorite to win the men’s conference title while Manchester was the preseason favorite to win the women’s championship.