the depauw | sports
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2012
Wittenberg edges DePauw by one point By NICOLE DARNALL sports@thedepauw.com
The DePauw women’s swim team came in second out of eight teams at the DePauw Invitational held at the Erdmann Natatorium in the Lilly Center this past weekend. They lost by one point to Wittenberg University. The single point came down to the final event of the meet – the 400-yard freestyle relay. DePauw came in behind Wittenberg by eight one-hundredths of a second. “We challenged ourselves by placing a freshman on both the first leg and the last leg of the race, and sandwiching them with upperclassmen,” head coach Matt Ense said. “But, I wouldn’t change the order at all if I was doing it over again.” Ense also said that the 400 was their
best race of the weekend, right up there with the 200 freestyle relay. The 200 squad of Reese Edwards, Allison Kirby, Nicole Rossillo and Caroline Bridges finished in second as well. “I thought they were great races,” Ense said. “Yeah, we were on the short end, but in the long run, I think it’s going to benefit us.” The team used this past weekend as a jumping point to the rest of their season as they starts to look toward the NCAC conference meet. This was the first multiple-day meet the team encountered so far this season, and it definitely seems to have benefitted them. “Having it over two days was a good thing, and it almost goes into our favor the longer the meet goes,” Ense said. “We got better each session this weekend. We had four sessions, and by that fourth, we were
really getting into our groove. Most teams will kind of fade and get worn out while we get our energy up and move forward.” The conference meet will be over a three-day span. In addition to having primed themselves for the multiple sessions each day, DePauw used the week prior to their advantage by lessening slightly the workload in preparation. “We rested a little and went down in our training,” Ense said. “The team was a little fresher, especially having had a mental break over the holiday break.” But even though the Tigers did not finish in the ideal situation, they came as close as a team can get. “Losing to Witt will put a little sour taste in our mouth,” Ense said. “But it gave us a little more motivation looking toward conference.”
tiger week of the
name: BLAKE LEHMANN, FRESHMAN
sport:
MEN’S SWIMMING
events:
50 AND 100 FREESTYLE
Gasaway, Pearson post double-doubles, down Denison, 61-39
hometown: CHAMPAIGN, ILL.
By CLARE POLEGA
Highlight:
sports@thedepauw.com
The DePauw women’s basketball team played its first conference game at Denison University this past weekend, and the team rallied for a resounding victory, 61-39 – DePauw’s 25th-straight conference win. “The game was closer than what the score indicated,” head coach Kris Huffman said. “We had a good run to start the first half, and a good run to start the second half.” Rebound-wise, the Tigers dominated the boards with leading scorer and leading rebounder junior Alex Gasaway, totaling 17 rebounds, followed by senior Ellie Pearson’s 12 rebounds. Denison (4-3, 0-1 NCAC) totaled just 24 compared to the Tigers’ 53. DePauw also did a solid job defending Denison’s shooters: shutting down Denison’s top scorer, Nicole Coggins, to eight points. Gasaway and Pearson also set the Tigers’ pace in points with 17 and 13 respectively. “Those are two areas of focus for us: great intensity on defense and winning the boards,” Huffman said. “We’re getting more active on the boards.” DePauw controlled the tempo of the game and substituted in freshmen with a stable lead: Colleen McDonagh, Jenna Stoner and Angela Hacker. But at the outset, the task was more made difficult as Denison added in new offensive motions before the game, which forced the Tigers to adjust. “Usually, we are ready to go for the game, but they threw new plays at us,” senior Kate Walker said. “We adjusted, and we were able to be okay after a while. They’re never going to back down. It
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Senior Kathleen Molloy shoots during Saturday's game at Denison University. The women's team won 61-39. PHOTO COURTESY OF HUNG TRAN / THE DENISONIAN
didn’t surprise me.” Being 6-0 for the first time in DePauw women’s basketball history, the team has little to complain about. “We’re pleased with where we’re at,” Huffman said. “They are a hard-working group, but we have so much room for improvement.” Added Walker, “We’re excited that we are winning. It’s quite an accomplishment, but most of us are focusing on the future games. We need to keep working hard and stay focused.” The Tigers will compete against Ohio Wesleyan University (1-5, 0-1 NCAC) next Saturday. “We try to go day-by-day,” Huffman said. “We need this second conference game, well that is our goal. We think these first two will be our biggest conference games.”
Lehmann posted a 20.95 seconds 50-yard freestyle at the DePauw Invitational, a reduction of 0.44 seconds from his previous best time. In the 100 free, he shaved off 1.15 seconds from his previous best, for a time of 46.38 seconds. In the 100 butterfly, Lehmann cut 2.33 seconds from his previous best, for a time of 51.03 seconds.
On his fast times and his DePauw Invitational victory by more than 400 points: “I had confidence going into it, but I didn’t know what to expect,” Lehmann said. “I just kept thinking to kick, and then at the turn I saw (junior) Jack Burgeson right there, and I kicked it into gear, and so did he. It was just a good race all around. Coming into it, we knew we would have a good performance team-wise. Hopefully we’ll keep having this success.” — COMPILED BY MICHAEL APPELGATE / SPORTS@THEDEPAUW.COM