Preview of the 2022-23 Indoor Track & Field Season
12/7/2022 12:05:00 PM | TRACK AND FIELD
DePaul participates in six meets before hosting conference championship
CHICAGO – The DePaul track and field team is looking to build off of their impressive 2021-22 season. The men's squad earned a second place finish and the women followed with a third place prize at the 2022 BIG EAST Indoor Championships. The results were even sweeter when the championship meet was hosted by the Blue Demons for the first time since 1996 at Gately Indoor, the home of DePaul track and field.
The squad has big expectations for this upcoming season, as three three key players return to Lincoln Park. Tori Carroll, a multi-time conference champion, returns for her senior season after qualifying for the preliminary rounds of the NCAA Championship the past two seasons in the 100m dash, 60m dash and the long jump. Jarel Terry is a spotlight runner for the Blue Demons and claimed the 400m outdoor championship and qualified for the preliminary rounds of the NCAA Championship during the 2021-22 season. Sophomore Darius Brown is already smashing the record book in the young season, breaking the men's 60m hurdles record on Dec. 2, 2022. Brown broke the 110m hurdle outdoor record, earned two runner-up finishes in the BIG EAST Championships and qualified for the NCAA preliminary rounds during his freshman campaign.
DePaul welcomes twelve new members to the squad for the 2022-23 season. Eight women are set to join the team, bringing in a mixture of experience and events.
"This year's recruiting class is a big one," said Coach Dopek about the new additions to the women's team. "Both in size and in expectation. We have gone out and secured a class that is as balanced as it is talented. Equal mix of international student-athletes, transfers, freshman, hurdlers, sprinters, and jumpers. These ladies will make a huge impact on the immediate direction of the program."
Transfers Amberly Valeriano, Michaiah Thomas and Isabella Hilditch will focus on hurdles and will bring a plethora of experience from different collegiate programs to the Blue Demons squad.
Freshmen Jaiah Hopf and Eveline Reno will focus mostly on jumps. Hopf is a two-time Wisconsin state champion in the long jump and a three-time state champion in the triple jump. Reno finished in third place in the Illinois state championship in both the long jump and high jump. Both will add depth to the female jumps squad.
The last new pieces of the women's team are long sprinters Nadja Moll, Kayliah Motes and Lauren Pacsi. All three are freshmen, and Moll comes to the Windy City from Prevessin-Moens, France. These women will add to the long sprints squad that saw success last season.
Four men join the DePaul track and field team, including a mixture of freshmen and transfers. With many student-athletes returning, the coaching staff was able to fixate on adding strength onto the roster.
Charley Eagle and Michael Ronzone participated in the 2022 cross country season and were able to help push the men's team to new heights during their meets. They will be members of the distance squad for the track and field team and are expected to make a great impact.
Charles Lewis joins the Blue Demons after a two-year stint with Louisiana State University. Lewis "...will bring a highly competitive attitude and great athletic talent to a men's sprint squad that is coming off a highly successful year and aspire to make a bigger impact on the national level," said Coach Dopek.
Freshman Clayton Kamp rounds out the newcomers for the Blue Demons. The coaching staff believes that the Arlington Heights, Ill. native will have an immediate impact on a throws team that expects to see continued growth after a successful 2021-22 season.
The Blue Demons participate in six indoor meets this season before hosting the BIG EAST Indoor Championship. The squad already completed their first competition of the new season at the Blue & Gold hosted by the University of Notre Dame on Dec. 2, 2022.
The first meet of the year was a success for the Blue Demons. Darius Brown broke the DePaul men's 60m hurdles record with a final time of 7.81. Freshman Jaiah Hopf etched her name into the record book in the women's triple jump. Hopf broke the record twice, landing a 12.45m and then finishing with a final distance of 12.47m.
The 2022-23 indoor season concludes with DePaul hosting the BIG EAST Indoor Championships for the second year in a row at Gately.
"Co-hosting last year's Big East Indoor Championships with the Big East conference, made for a great experience," said head coach David Dopek. "We hadn't hosted a championship meet since all the way back in 1996, so It had been a while. I thought it was a great success. Being able to host the conference meet again this year will allow us to continue to build on highlighting the sport of Track & Field in Chicago. The team is very excited and working hard as they prepare to defend 'home turf'."
On Friday, the Blue Demons host their annual Blue Demon Holiday invite at Gatley Indoor. The team will then have a short break before returning to action on Friday, Jan. 20 for the Blue Demon Alumni Classic.
Players Mentioned
