DGS taking 12 events to Top Times meet!

The Downers Grove South girls track & field team will be taking girls to compete in 12 events at the Illinois Top Times meet on Saturday, March 26.  The meet will be held in the afternoon/evening at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington. Athletes qualify to compete based on results from throughout the indoor portion of the season. The top 12-25 athletes in each event are invited to compete at what is considered to be the unofficial indoor state meet. You can read Mike Newman’s preview of the meet HERE.

Michaela Hackbarth (Sr) and Shaliyah Dixon-Tucker (Sr) lead the Mustang contingent with some of the top marks in the state. Hackbarth will compete as the favorite in the 800m run with the fastest indoor time so far (2:14.57).  Dixon-Tucker has BOTH the best 60m dash seed time (7.59) and 60m hurdle seed time (8.82) among all competitors. Hackbarth will also compete in the 400m dash (59.48) as the 10th seed out of 16 runners, while Dixon-Tucker will return to the track in the 200m dash (25.66) ranked 5th out 16 runners.

Maddie Manganiello (So) will be the first DGS competitor in the meet when she jumps in the Long Jump competition early in the afternoon. Maddie’s 17′ 8.5″ mark is 9th among the 12 qualifiers.  Katie Stapleton (Jr) will be next up on the track as she races the 3200m run. Katie’s time of 11:02.09 seeds her 6th out of the 15 qualifiers.  Soren Umali (Jr) will join Dixon-Tucker in the 60m hurdle race where her 9.16 seed time ranks her 7th out of 25 hurdlers. Becky Versaskas (Fr) will join Hackbarth in the 800m run with the 11th best time (2:21.00).

The Mustangs will also be represented in all three relay races. The 4x800m relay team of Kelley Hackbarth (So), Maggie Seitz (Sr), Kara Petersen (Jr), and Gillian Thomas (So) will take the track among the field of 12 teams. The 4x200m quartet of Umali, Nicole Muccianti (Jr), Arianna Finley (Sr), and Dixon-Tucker will race as the 10th seed out of 16 teams. The final race of the evening will feature the 3rd seeded 4x400m relay team of Lauren Wong (Sr), Sonja Renowden (Jr), Versaskas, and M.Hackbarth.

Downers Grove South has a rich history of competing well at this meet over the years. You can see Top Times results from past meets HERE.

Good luck to the Mustangs as they wrap up the indoor portion of the schedule against some great competition!