Mustangs place 10th in Peoria!

On Saturday, September 18, 2021, the DGS girls cross country team traveled to Detweiller Park in Peoria for the Richard Spring Invitational. The meet, hosted by Peoria Notre Dame HS featured 63 teams on the 3.0 mile IHSA State meet course. The Mustangs faired well, placing 10th at the varsity level, 13th at the Frosh/Soph level, and 5th at the JV level. Of the 38 DGS athletes that competed, 35 ran season best times, and 13 ran lifetime best times!

In the varsity race, the Mustangs ran without top returning runner, Sophia McNerney (Sr) who was recovering from an injury. Despite racing shorthanded, all 5 athletes ran season best times. Holly Johnson (Fr) led the charge with her 9th place finish. Holly’s time of 17:15 nearly matched the DGS freshman record of 17:13 set by Amanda Thate back in 2011. Kelsey Casella (Sr) placed 33rd overall in an excellent season best time of 18:05. Madi Sisson (Sr) placed 91st overall in 19:06, Alex Spang (Sr) placed 123rd in 19:29, and Nora Joy (Jr) placed 135th in 19:35.

In the Frosh-Soph race, a trio of sophomores led DGS to finish as the #13 team. Rachel Rodi (So) led the Mustangs with a 29th place finish in 19:54. Sophia Nelson (So) and Sophie Ring (So) came into the chute close together in 43rd and 45th places respectively. Their times are equally as close, running 20:11 and 20:13.  A trio of freshmen took the next spots in the Mustang order with Mar Duran (Fr) finishing 131st in 22:07, Mikaela Cresse (Fr) placing 164th in 22:50, and Juliana Conyer (Fr) placing 180th in 23:11. Abbey McGinley (So) completed the scoring with her 184th place finish in 23:19.

The highest finish of the day was the DGS JV team placing 5th overall. This squad was led by Elizabeth Culcasi (Jr) who finished in 25th place with a time of 20:19. Madelyn Sumlin (Jr) was not far behind, running 20:38 to place 35th. Arianna DeLeon (Jr) was the 3rd Mustang into the chute with her 46th place finish in 20:54 followed closely by Renee Kowalski (Sr) who placed 53rd in 20:59. The next 4 Mustangs all came into the chute within a total of 10 seconds. They were Lindsay Spear (Jr) in 21:02, Skyler Tomecki (Jr) in 21:04, Sara Homberg (Sr) in 21:11, and Madolyn Werner (Sr) in 21:12.

Full meet results can be found on Athletic.net, and DGS individual splits and times can be found on the Schedule/Results page. All levels will compete on Monday, September 20th at O’Brien Park in our only home meet of the season. This meet is also our Senior Night ceremony. The team will also compete in the Naperville Invite this Friday, September 24 at St. James Farm in Warrenville.