Downers Grove South Senior Earns All-State Track Honors

The following was submitted by Doug Plunkett:

The Girls Track & Field team competed at the IHSA State Meet this weekend finishing in a tie for 45th place overall, scoring a total of 5 points.  Edwardsville won the championship with 51 points. 

Rebecca Stearns (Sr) earned All-State honors with her 5th place finish in the 800m run (2:12.81).  Stearns set a school record in the prelims (2:11.80), breaking the 1990 record of 2:14.77 set by former 800m state champion Tina Stec.  Rebecca ran an aggressive race in the finals holding on to 3rd place for much of the race until be being passed by two runners just before the finish line.  Even though the time in the finals was 1 second slower than it was in the prelims, it was probably one of the best races she has run in her 4 years at DGS.  She will continue her track career next year at Loyola University in Chicago.   

Jada Franklin (Jr) finished 16th in the triple jump with a jump of 36’ 4.5”.  Jada had fouls on her first two prelim jumps and had to move her start further back on her final jump in order to get a legal mark.  She was able to do that, but unfortunately missed the finals by 6 inches. 

Katie Strelau (Jr) finished 24th in the 3200m (11:29.97) and Amanda Thate (Fr) finished 27th in the mile (5:13.16).  Both girls ran good races and were able to improve on their seed positions going into the meet (28th and 37th respectively). 

The 4x400m relay team of Sam Baeten (Jr), Blake Mueller (Jr), Raven Wilson (Sr), and Rebecca Stearns (Sr) finished 15th overall (3:59.38) and the 4x800m relay team of Amanda Thate (Fr), Blake Mueller (Jr), Maddie Cahill (Sr), and Jacquelyn Thate (Sr) finished 16th(9:34.92).  Both of the relays had the potential for qualifying for the finals, but despite good efforts, didn’t quite get it done.