DGS Girls' Cross Country Places Third at Plainfield South IHSA Regional

Submitted by Doug Plunkett. Photo 1: The start of the race. Photo 2: Katie Stapleton (regional champion).

The DGS girls cross country team placed third out of nine teams Saturday at the Plainfield South IHSA Regional meet.

The Mustangs advance to next week’s Sectional race with that finish.

Katie Stapleton (Jr) led the way winning the individual championship for the second week in a row. Katie battled a girl from Benet Academy the entire race and managed to pull away from her in the last ½ mile to win by five seconds in 18:08.

The course was not ideal for fast times as it was wet and slick from the rain and included lots of twists and turns in the woods, which made Katie’s time that much more impressive.

Becky Versaskas (Fr) finished strong to place eighth overall in 18:40.

The other DGS finishers were Gillian Thomas (So) in 22nd, Emily Qualizza (Sr) in 23rd, Melissa Weidner (Fr) in 24th, Michaela Hackbarth (Sr) in 26th, and Jill Boyle (Sr) in 27th.

“Our third place team finish was a little disappointing as I felt we were capable of running much better as a group,” Doug Plunkett wrote in an email. “It was reminiscent of our meet at Naperville earlier in the season when we had similar results. Hopefully we will regroup and compete better next week, the same as we did after the Naperville race.”

On Saturday, Oct. 31, the team will travel to Kathryn Legge Memorial Park in Hinsdale for the Sectional meet. The girls race will take place at 11 a.m.. There will be 18 teams competing and the top five teams will qualify for the State Meet.