High school sports: Cross country, swimming are fall sports highlights at Downers Grove South

Winter seems to have arrived in full force, but it's not too late to look back on some of the big fall sports highlights at Downers Grove South. Here are a few of the memorable moments.

1. Banner year for girls cross country

That Downers Grove South's girls cross country team dominated the West Suburban Gold and won yet another conference title came as little surprise. But the Mustangs turned heads in the postseason as a team with six underclassmen and just one senior (Katie Stapleton) won regional and sectional titles before finishing fourth at the Class 3A state meet, trying their best state finish ever. Freshman Brenna Cohoon led the way (38th, 17:36), and Stapleton, sophomores Melissa Weidner and Becky Versaskas, and freshman Erin Reidy all crossed the line less than 30 seconds behind Cohoon.

Quote of note: "This is just a really exciting time for me because I know how hard this team has worked together. It's just really good to see how the work is paying off in the state meet," Cohoon said.

2. Boys soccer snags regional title

Winning a regional title in any high school sport is easier said than done, and soccer is often a coin flip by the time of the regional championship matches. So claiming a second straight regional title was a big deal for Downers Grove South. The Mustangs won a pair of one-goal games to claim the regional title, first s 2-1 win against Kennedy and then a 1-0 victory against host St. Ignatius for the title.

Quote of note: "I think we're bringing back the legacy of Downers Grove South, bringing back soccer as a main sport here," senior forward Nick Rohl said. "It just feels good knowing you did something good for the school."

3. Girls swimming ends state medal drought

The first sign that Downers Grove South's girls swimming team was in for a special postseason came when they hung with Lyons Township and Hinsdale Central at the sectional meet. The Mustangs indeed had a memorable postseason as the 200-yard freestyle relay team of senior Alyssa Reinholz, junior Makaila Scheiblein and freshmen Melanie Scheiblein and Jorie Selig finished 10th in the state with a time of 1:37.78 to claim South's first state medal since 2004. The relay team had broken school and pool records the previous week at the Downers South sectional with a time of 1:36.96.

Quote of note: "It was really cool," Reinholz said. "We were a little nervous but we calmed ourselves down. "I gave my team a little bit of a speech and it was really exciting. Our goal was just to see how fast we could go and that's what we did. We went out, raced and had a lot of fun."