State Series 2024 – Return to Detweiller
State Series 2024 – Return to Detweiller
written by Joseph Jones
Since 2011, the DGS girls cross country team has had a second home at Detweiller Park in Peoria. They ran there several times a year, including in the season-concluding state championship meet. However, the last two years the team’s season ended before a November trip to Detweiller. From the end of last season, teammates dreamed of a different end to 2024.
Despite these dreams, the team’s destiny was in doubt during September. Two-time all-state performer Holly Johnson (Sr) was on the shelf with an injury. Although various individuals turned in excellent performances every time out, team scores lagged other local squads as the team could not find consistency and cohesion.
Fortunes for the Mustangs began to look up with a 26th consecutive WSC Gold Championship at a sunny O’Brien Park. Johnson returned to racing and the top five gelled for the first time all season with times within 30 seconds of one another. Sophomores Gianna Lamb, Rose Jones, and Nia Ortega ran together and finished within eight seconds of one another to secure the 2-4 spots. Freshman Nora Maier followed senior Holly Johnson for places five and six.
On Saturday October 26, the team gathered for the regional meet at Waubonsie Valley High School to compete on a course that none of the Mustang entrants had run competitively in their careers. A sunny morning in the low-50s made for excellent racing conditions. The trio of sophomores again ran strong together finishing within seven seconds of one another. Ortega built on her first sub-20-minute race at the conference championship to run 19:26 for 21st place. Jones (24th) and Lamb (26th) followed closely behind at 19:30 and 19:33 respectively. Johnson and Maier crossed the line next to each other at 19:53. Emily Gantz (Jr) and Cora Murphy (Fr) gained valuable experience in their first state series races with respective times of 20:34 and 21:19. The #4 state ranked team Naperville North and the host Warriors dominated the meet to take the top two team slots. In the duel of Mustangs for the final sectional qualifying spot DGS (142 points) was safely clear of Metea Valley (179 points).
DGS harriers bounded across more familiar ground the following Saturday at Katherine Legge Memorial Park for the sectional meet. Due to construction in the park’s southeast corner, the competition course was only 2.9 miles. While acknowledging the team’s improvement over the last two weeks, journalist Michael Newman thought the time difference was too great for the Mustangs to overcome any of the top seven teams. In conditions that mirrored the previous week, the team attacked the course to run their best race of the season. Ortega (22nd), Lamb (25th), and Jones (29th) ran within six seconds of one another in besting six competitors that had finished in front of them at regionals. Johnson ran inspired to finish 55th, while Maier gritted her way to 77th. Juniors Claire Posmer and Emily Gantz worked together to secure 88th and 89th. While #2 Downers Grove North (28 points) and #5 Naperville North (58 points) easily qualified for state, 17 points separated places five through eight.
Coaches, teammates, and parents huddled around their phones at the finish line watching results update with each finisher. Oswego East (177 points) and host Hinsdale Central (183 points) barely edged the Mustangs (184 points). But that score was better than #20 Neuqua Valley (194 points), which was enough for DGS to qualify as a team for the state championship. DGS’s sophomore pack was the key. Eight teams had at least one runner ahead of Ortega, but only the Trojans and Huskies had their third runner ahead of Jones.
The return to Detweiller Park to end the season at the 3A state championship was a celebration for the team and its accomplishments, but that did not mean that the DGS seven were not serious about doing well. Light rain and 52 degrees at race time did not seem to suggest fast conditions, but the race was lightning quick. Barrington sophomore Mia Sirois set the course record in 15:53.4. Johnson (192nd) ran with unmitigated joy finishing 48 seconds faster than any 3-mile race since last year’s state championship. The other six runners all improved their 3-mile PR by at least 30 seconds. Ortega (75th) displayed her potential finishing in 18:00.6 – a full 86 second improvement. Lamb (134th) improved by 42 seconds in a time of 18:28.1. Jones (162nd) vaulted her previous best by a half minute crossing the line at 18:40.4. Maier’s 39 second improvement of 19:14.5 was good for 199th place. Posmer (19:50.0) and Gantz (19:50.6) both broke 20 minutes for the first time.
After the meet, Coach Plunkett expressed that he really enjoyed the season and working with all the girls. He believes the team has a lot of potential and is excited to watch how things play out as they continue to train and compete.
Observers will remember this championship in vivid detail with Sirois’s course record and the top three squads separated by only two points. But the DGS Mustangs will not remember the day as a 27th finish at the state meet. Rather, the memory will be of the day that this young team learned that their competitive ceiling has not yet been reached. The lead sophomores, precocious freshmen, and experienced juniors know that with training and collaboration they can reestablish DGS as a perennial 3A cross country power in Illinois.
