DePauw drops close opener to Benedictine; Women 1st, Men 2nd at Kalamazoo

Visiting Benedictine outscored DePauw, 10-4, over the final 4:28 and topped the Tigers 73-71 in the opener for both schools.

Benedictine scored the game’s first seven points before DePauw came back to even the score at 13-13 and eventually take a 20-17 lead. The Eagles used a 12-3 run to regain the lead and expand it to six at 29-23. Elijah Hales and Grant Gohmann hit buckets in the final 2:20 of the half and the Tigers held Benedictine scoreless over that stretch to take a 41-38 lead into the break.

The Tigers trailed 57-53 midway through the second half, but a 9-0 DePauw run gave the home squad a 62-57 edge with 7:49 left. The teams were tied at 69-69 after Grant Niego’s layup with 2:23 left. Cade Ellingson countered with a bucket and, after a DePauw miss, the Eagles’ Trevor Montiel pushed the lead to 73-69 with a put-back with 50 seconds left.

Niego’s put-back with 37 seconds left made it 73-71 and a Benedictine turnover gave the ball back to the Tigers who called a timeout in the frontcourt with 4.4 seconds left. Ronald Johnson’s drive to the basket was blocked by the Eagles’ Micahel Johnson with 0.2 seconds left and the Tigers were unable to get a shot off on the ensuing inbounds play under the basket.

Gohmann paced DePauw with 16 points, while Hales added 14 and Niego 10. Montiel led Benedictine with 21 points with Marvin Agworth and Zach Derus each chipping in 14. The Eagles held a 36-35 edge on the boards with Johnson grabbing eight for the guests, while Grant and Nolan Niego each hauling down five for DePauw.

The Eagles shot 49.2 percent from the field with DePauw connecting on 37.9 percent. DePauw hit 17 of 18 from the line to the Eagles’ 10 of 11 and the Tigers committed 10 turnovers to Benedictine’s 14.

DePauw hosts Earlham on Friday, November 12, at 7 p.m.

Women 1st, Men 2nd at Kalamazoo Quad

The DePauw women’s swimming and diving team finished on top at the Kalamazoo Quad with 1043.5 points while the men’s swimming and diving team finished second with a total of 717 points.

The Tiger women completed the two-day quad with four top-three relay finishes and 21 individual top-three finishes while the men had a total of six individual top-three finishes and three top-three relay finishes.

Dominating early, the Tiger women swept the 50-yard Free with Maggie Perry earning first with a time of 24.81, followed closely by Sammie Waples (24.87) and Claire Sweetwood (24.95). Waples, Sweetwood, and Perry would also sweep the 100-yard Free with the times of 54.61, 55.09, and 55.14, respectively.

Perry would go on to also earn second in the 100-yard butterfly (1:01.14). Other individual runners-up include Tara Holder, who came in second in the 200-yard freestyle (1:57.90), Elise Umbach, who finished the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:09.85. Molly Ruggles was runner-up in the 100-yard backstroke (1:00.97), and in the 1650-yard freestyle, Megan Mackenzie finished with a time of 18:33.18. Mia Hagenauer rounded out the second-place finishers after swimming the 200-yard butterfly in 2:23.02.

DePauw found success across various relay events, taking first in the 200-yard freestyle relay with Waples, Perry, Sweetwood, and Tarah Lang (1:38.91). The Tigers would close out the night with two more second-place relay finishes, the first in the 200-yard medley relay with Ruggles, Umbach, Perry, and Waples (1:51.35) second in the 400-yard freestyle relay with Perry, Waples, Holder, and Sweetwood.

Leading DePauw’s men in individual top-three finishes was James Shorney. Shorney took first-place in the 100-yard free (48.12), second in the 100-yard butterfly (53.18), and came in third in the 50-yard free (22.11).

Brock Kinnamon would tally a first and second-place finish of his own in the 200-yard free (1:48.05) and the 200-yard butterfly (2:01.15), respectively.

Rounding out the individual top-three finishing swimmers for DePauw was Seth Fagen, who tied for third in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 55.76.

In the 400-yard free relay, Kinnamon, Fagen, Tommy Hackley, and Shorney took first-place with a time of 3:18.00, just 0:0.88 seconds before host Kalamazoo College. The Tigers would take second in the 200-yard medley relay with Fagen, Patrick Unterreiner, Kellen Bachler, and Shorney. The final top-three finish was in the 2-00-yard free relay with Robbie Sheffield, Spencer Boyd, Kinnamon, and Shorney.

The Tiger women’s next meet is the three-day Pebworth Invitational at Wabash College, spanning from Friday, Nov. 19-21. Also on Friday, Nov. 19, the Tiger men travel to Chicago to compete at the University of Chicago Phoenix Fall Classic.

Perry named NCAC Athlete of the Week

DePauw University sophomore swimmer Maggie Perry (Shaker Heights, Ohio/ Shaker Heights) has been named the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Women’s Swimming and Diving Athlete of the Week for her performance in this past weekend’s Kalamazoo Quad.

Across the two-day Kalamazoo Quad meet, Perry finished first in the 50-yard free (24.81), helping the Tigers sweep the top three times in the event. She swam the 100-yard butterfly 1:01.14 to take second-place and earned third in the 100-yard free, where DePauw swept the top-three spots a second time.

Perry swam in the 400-yard medley relay (3rd-place), the 200-yard medley relay (2nd-place), the 400-yard free relay (2nd-place), and swam in the first-place finishing team in the 200-yard free relay (1:38.91).

The Tigers compete in the Pebworth Invitational at Wabash college from Friday, November 19 to Sunday, November 21.

Purichia, Haas earn All-NCAC Volleyball honors

A pair of Tigers were recognized by the North Coast Athletic Conference as Jenna Purichia (Sr., Indianapolis, Ind./Cardinal Ritter) and Ashley Haas (Fr., San Clemente, Calif./San Clemente) were selected to the all-NCAC Volleyball Team by the conference’s coaches.

Purichia was named to the second team as a defensive specialist and entered the NCAC Tournament with a team-high 438 digs. Her 5.28 digs per set rank second in the NCAC, while her 0.48 service aces are third among conference players. Purichia was an honorable mention choice in 2018.

Haas earned honorable mention in her first collegiate season as she hit a team-high .334 and was second with 66 total blocks, while leading with 18 solos.

DePauw opened NCAC Tournament play with a 3-0 win over Allegheny before bowing out of the tournament following a 3-0 loss to Ohio Wesleyan.