DGS Girls Track and Field Breaks Records at Bloomington Meet

Results for the Girls Track and Field at the Illinois Prep Top Times Meet at Illinois Wesleyen University:

Junior Sam Baeten started us off running well in the 55m dash prelims (7.47). Sam qualified for the finals, but re-aggravated a nagging injury and scratched from the finals, as well as the open 400m dash in hopes of saving herself for the 4x400m relay.

Downers Grove South is the only team in the history of the meet to have two 4x800m relays teams invited to participate. 

The 'A' team was made up of Senior Rebecca Stearns, Senior Jacquelyn Thate, Junior Blake Mueller, and Freshman Amanda Thate. Our 'B' team was Senior Maddie Cahill, Junior Kelly Clinnin, Senior Cara Wicklein, and Junior Amy Rotunno. 

The 'B' team ran a very solid 9:50.96 to finish in 10th place, led by Maddie Cahill's amazing lead-off leg. The 'A' team shattered it's own school record by 12 seconds to finish in second place (9:23.10) behind Glenbard West's meet record 9:18.77. 

At the beginning of the season, DGS' school record was 9:41, set by a team in 2002 that eventually finished 8th at outdoor state. 

Three weeks ago, DGS lowered the record to 9:35 at the Mustang Relays and Saturday lowered it even further. It was a great team effort that looks very promising for the outdoor season.

Junior Katie Strelau was next on the track and she finished 12th against a very good field of 3200m runners. Her time, 11:21.30, was an indoor school record, narrowly breaking the record (11:23) set by Amanda Thate two weeks ago. Rebecca Stearns ran the open 800m and was able to finish 6th in 2:19.16. She had run a 2:17.6 split in the 4x800m relay earlier.

Jacquelyn and Amanda Thate both ran the 1600m run next. Jacquelyn's time of 5:27.77 placed her 16th while Amanda ran 5:11.42 to finish ninth and break the indoor school record held by her oldest sister, Nicole (now running at Missouri State University). 

The final race on the track was the 4x400m relay. Downers Grove South has a strong tradition of doing very well in this relay both indoors and outdoors over the years, and this year was no exception. 

The relay team of Sam Baeten, Blake Mueller, Senior Raven Wilson, and Rebecca Stearns ran a great race to finish first in 4:03.70. 

All of the girls that competed yesterday represented DGS extremely well and gave it everything they had. All in all, it was a great finish to the indoor portion of the DGS season and a excellent source of momentum heading into the outdoor season.