DGS Girls' Cross Country Split to Compete in Two Meets

Submitted by Douglas Plunkett.

The Downers Grove South girls cross country split up the team and competed in two separate meets on Saturday. The varsity top 7 traveled to Detweiller Park for the Peoria Central Invite, while the remainder of the team traveled to Leroy Oakes Forest Preserve for the St. Charles North Invite.

St. Charles North Invite

The girls did an outstanding job of representing DGS at both of our meets yesterday. At St. Charles North, the course was not designed for speed, but was more of a true cross country experience. We did not have lots of PR times, but we did have a lot of good efforts against some very good competition. The girls who competed in the varsity race finished 14th out of 21 teams. Freshman, Melissa Weidner was our top finisher with a PR time of 19:49. With many of our best F/S runners competing in the varsity race (both in St. Charles and Peoria), the F/S team was still able to finish 5thout of 19 teams. That speaks volumes for the depth and quality of our F/S team! Freshman, Allison Calek was our top finisher in 20th place. The JV team, led by Emily Kaszyk (Jr) and Megan Wicklein (Sr), placed 10th out of 21 teams to conclude the day at Leroy Oakes Forest Preserve.

Peoria Central Invite

In Peoria, speed is the name of the game. The varsity team placed 2nd out of 34 teams. Katie Stapleton (Jr) led the team with her 4th place finish and PR time of 17:43. That time is the 3rd fastest 3-mile time in DGS history! Becky Versaskas (Fr) and Michaela Hackbarth (Sr) also ran great races, finishing in 14th and 15th places with identical times of 18:14. The remainder of the varsity also ran season best times at Detweiller Park, with Jill Boyle (Sr) running 18:25, Gillian Thomas (So) running18:40, Emily Qualizza (Sr) running 18:48, and Natalie Olsen (So) running 19:11. As our season is progressing into the championship month of October, the varsity group is rounding in competitive shape. Our goal of qualifying for the IHSA State meet is within sight and we have positioned ourselves well.

The following links are to the complete results for each of Saturday’s meets.

St. Charles North: http://realtiminginc.com/Race%20Results/2015%20Cross%20Country/STCN%20Inv/STCN%20Invitational%20Results.html

Peoria Central: http://my-finish.com/teamStandings.php?race_name=peoriaxc15&division_id=4