Downers South Cross Country Take Second in Fenton Invitational

The Girls Varsity Cross Country team placed second out of 16 teams at the Fenton 'Earlybird' Invitational Saturday. 

The team came close to taking first. Both DGS and Lake Park High School scored 47 points.

Unfortunately, Lake Park won the tie-breaker because their sixth finisher (21st place) was ahead of South's sixth finisher (28th place). 

Plunkett said despite the disappointment of falling just short of first place, the coaches are extremely proud of how the girls ran.

"We beat several other very good teams by a lot of points, including Prospect (ranked #3 in the state) and (ranked #8 in the state)," Plunkett wrote in an e-mail.

"The team we lost to, Lake Park, was ranked #10 in the state. Of course, none of these comparisons really matter until we get to the IHSA State Series, but it feels good to know that we are off to a solid start."

In the Varsity race, Amanda Thate (Fr) led the team, placing third overall (18:18). Katie Strelau (Jr) was fifth (18:50), Jacquelyn Thate (Sr) was nineth (19:16), Katrina Friedrich was 13th (19:47), Amy Rotunno (Jr) was 17th (19:52), Cara Wicklein (Sr) was 28th (20:30) and Erin Gentile (So) was 30th (20:33).

Team Scores:
Lake Park - 47
Downers South - 47
Hoffman Estates - 102
St. Francis - 125
Prospect - 125
Downers North - 127
Hersey - 222
Glenbrook South - 231
...plus 8 other teams.

In the junior varisty race, Downers Grove South also placed second out of 15 teams to Lake Park. Rebecca Stearns (Sr) led the team by also placing third overall (20:08). Maddie Cahill (Sr) was eighth (20:56), Meredith Robinson (So) was 10th (21:00), Jordan Spivak (Jr) was 22nd (21:55), Sophia Robinson (Sr) was 27th (22:23) and Monica Resh (Sr) was 35th (22:50).