Naperville Twilight Meet!

On Wednesday, the DGS Girls Cross Country team traveled to the campus of Naperville North HS for the Twilight Invite. This is the first time DGS has participated in this meet, but the Mustangs fared well among the 15 competing teams. The field was loaded with 7 of the top 9 ranked teams in the state participating.

The varsity placed 3rd behind #1 ranked Naperville North and #2 ranked Yorkville, edging out highly ranked Wheaton South, Glenbard West, and Hinsdale Central. Brenna Cohoon (So) led the Mustangs again with her 16th place finish over the 3.0 mile course in 17:42. Erin Reidy (So) led a tight DGS pack with her 25th place finish (17:57). She was followed by Becky Versaskas (Jr) in 27th place (17:58), Melissa Weidner (Jr) in 28th place (18:03), and Kennedy Warden (So) in 34th place (18:06). Rebecca Diddia (Fr) and Olivia Duax (Jr) rounded out the varsity team with 42nd and 66th place finishes (18:23 & 18:42).

The JV team placed 2nd overall led by senior, Gillian Thomas’s individual win. Both Gillian and Kelley Hackbarth (Sr) went out with the lead group as the race started. Both were in the top 4-5 for most of the race. As they entered the stadium, Gillian battled two Naperville North girls for the lead. Down the final stretch, Gillian out-kicked both girls to squeeze out the victory in 18:53. Hackbarth finished strong in 6th place with a time of 19:15. She was followed by Julie LaLonde (Jr) who placed 12th in 19:27, Allison Calek (Jr) who placed 14th in 19:28, and Riya Bhasin (Sr) who placed 34th in 20:40. Teagan Halik (Jr) and Clare Quirin (Jr) placed 40th and 46th in 21:00 and 21:11 to complete the JV top 7.

In the Frosh-Soph race, Olivia Meyer (Fr) led the Mustangs with her 12th place finish in 19:16. Maya Scheck (Fr) was next into the chute in 31st place in 20:08. Renee Nicholson (Fr) placed 34th in 20:18, Meghan Stapleton (Fr) placed 37th in 20:27 followed by Kailey Ferguson (Fr) who was 38th in an identical 20:27 time. Sydney Gaspari (So) and Jenna Hunter (Fr) rounded out the F/S top 7. DGS placed 5th out of 15 competing teams on the F/S level.

In the Open race, Gillian Musial (So) and Yasmine Khan (Fr) led the Mustangs placing 67th and 69th overall. They were followed by Lily Skrapka (Sr), Stephanie Salerno (Sr), Natalie Repole (Sr), Lily Vincent (Fr), and Amanda Murphy (Sr) as the top 7 open race finishers.

All in all, it was a great day to be a Mustang. We had 41 girls race at the meet and 34 of them ran season best times while 21 girls ran lifetime bests!

Full meet results can be found on the Athletic.net website. Complete DGS individual results/splits can be found on the Schedule/Results page. Pictures and Videos from all of the races can be found on the Pictures/Video page.