DePauw Stories

Full Speed Ahead

Despite achieving the dream of competing as a Division I track and field athlete, Katie Moore ’25 felt unsettled after two years at IUPUI (now IU Indianapolis). “I wasn’t home, and I knew it,” she recalls. “Something was missing.”

So she took a risk and transferred to DePauw, a school that had previously recruited her, and where her older brother Drew Moore ’23 had thrived as a student-athlete. “It was one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make. I had to uproot everything and take a chance on a new school, a new team.”

In just one season as a Tiger, this communication major from Lawrenceville, Illinois, has found her place. “I didn’t know how I would fit into the team,” she admits. “But I’ve been so supported and welcomed by everybody. It feels like I’ve been here forever.”

She’s also racked up some impressive athletic accomplishments. Moore has already been a part of multiple school record-setting relay performances, she secured a dramatic conference championship in the heptathlon, and she qualified for nationals in the 400-meter hurdles, earning the distinction of second team All-American.

Her secret to success, she argues, is the collaborative partnership she has forged with her new combined events coach and mentor, Peter Crary.

“Such a big part of track and field is trusting your coach,” she explains. “He has fully invested his time and energy into me since the minute I committed. He believes in me more than I believe in myself. He’s the reason I’m doing what I’m doing.”

Crary shrugs off the praise. “If you could take Katie’s heart and bottle it and sell it, you’d be a billionaire,” he suggests. “That’s something I don’t think coaches can train. She’s talented, she’s competitive, and she has the drive that makes a good athlete great.”

That drive has served Moore both on and off the track.

After transferring to DePauw, she quickly realized she would need to adjust to new demands in the classroom. “I had to change some things and prioritize school a little bit more,” she admits. But she is proud of the grades she has earned in addition to her contributions on campus to D3TV, WGRE and The DePauw newspaper.

As a member of DePauw’s track and field coaching staff since 2003, Crary knows that this level of commitment is an essential part of success at the Division III level. “It takes a lot of work,” he says. “Most people don’t realize how much extra these student-athletes do. As coaches, we’re always telling them how impressed we are by them.”

That humility is central to Crary’s coaching philosophy, and it’s a big part of what has built such high levels of trust between him and his athletes. “I’m just along for the ride,” he says. “It’s their journey, and I want to help them get to where they want to be.”

Moore hopes her journey will include more success with her team, more championships and records, and eventually, a career as an NFL sideline reporter. But right now, she knows that at DePauw, she’s exactly where she belongs.