Regional Champs!

Saturday was a great day for DGSXC! The Mustangs traveled to Hammel Woods Forest Preserve to compete in the Plainfield South Regional Championship Meet. DGS ran a great team race to come out victorious over a number of very strong teams including Plainfield South and DGN. This was the first Regional title for the Mustangs since 1992 and only the 2nd in school history (51 years). 

DGN entered the meet as the favorite, ranked ahead of us in both the DyestatIL and MilesplitIL polls, with Plainfield South ahead of us in one poll and just behind in the other. We knew that if we ran well, we would at least be in contention for the win. Fortunately, our boys put together probably our best team race of the year to this point. 

Jack LaLonde led the way for the Mustangs placing 2nd behind DGN's Alec Danner. There was a gap to the next runners which turned out to be a pair of PSHS runners: John Partee and Andy Bhatia. Only a second back and closing on the duo for PS were Mustangs Stephen Pipilas and Max O'Meara for 5th and 6th. Plainfield South put their 3rd behind our pair, but he was followed closely by our 4th runner, Joey Eterno in 8th. Alan Zhou was a major factor in the victory for the Mustangs as he was our 5th runner in 12th. In a 9 team race, putting 5 guys in the top 12 made us pretty tough to beat as we posted a team score of 33 points. Plainfield South ran well to place 2nd with 43 points, while DGN ended up 3rd with 53 points.  

This weekend, we'll travel to Katherine Legge Memorial Park in Hinsdale to contest the Sectional Championships. It should be an exciting day and opportunity to see how we stack up against some very tough competition. Our Sectional, arguably and based on current rankings, is the toughest in the state and boasts 6 teams ranked in the top 25. The top 5 teams on Saturday will advance to the State Finals the following weekend. Some teams to watch are:

Sandburg #1 (also, #1 in nation)

Lyons Township #2 

Hinsdale Central #5

Downers South #14

Downers North #17

Plainfield South #18

*according to current Dyestat rankings