Mustangs win Regional!

The DGS girls cross country team traveled to Hammel Woods in Shorewood on Saturday to compete in the IHSA Regional meet hosted by Plainfield South. The Mustangs came home victorious, winning the regional title for the 2nd year in a row. Just like last year, it was a close battle with DGS edging out Benet Academy 35-38 in the 9-team meet. Plainfield North was 3rd with 82 pts. The top 6 teams all advance to this week’s IHSA Sectional meet hosted by Hinsdale Central at KLM Park. Full meet results can be found on the Athletic.net website.

The Mustangs flexed their muscles up front with a 1-2 finish by Brenna Cohoon (So) and Melissa Weidner (Jr). Both girls started the race with the front pack and moved into 1st and 2nd place by 2-mile mark. Brenna pulled away over the last mile to secure the victory. Melissa was challenged in the last 400m by Mae Tully from Benet. The Benet runner passed Melissa, but in the last 100m, Melissa found another gear and passed her back to take 2nd place. Erin Reidy (So) was with the lead pack early on in the race, but fell back during the 2nd mile. Erin’s strong finish in the final mile moved her back up into 7th place. Both Becky Versaskas (Jr),  Kennedy Warden (So), Gillian Thomas (Sr), and Olivia Duax (Jr) lost connection with the lead pack early on in the race and as the field entered the path in the woods, they got strung out too far back. It was tough going for most of the race and the young Benet team was positioned far enough up to hold the scoring lead for most of the race. In the last mile, both Erin and Becky moved up 1 spot to 7th and 11th, and Kennedy moved up 2 spots to 14th. Those 4 points allowed DGS to move ahead of Benet and secure the win. Gillian finished in 17th place, and Olivia finished in 27th place. Individual results/splits can be found on the Schedule/Results page. Both pictures and video from the race can be found on the Pictures/Video page.

This was not the typical pack race that we have become accustomed to this season. We will need to return to form at next week’s sectional meet if we hope to contend for the sectional title. On Saturday, the girls race will be held at 11:00a, followed by the boys race at 12:00 noon.