Waubonsie Valley High School is the host for the 2025 DVC Girls Cross Country Championship on a partly cloudy Saturday morning. All six schools in the DVC conference are well represented for this year’s competition, including the DVC defending title champs, Naperville North, who is looking for a 14th straight DVC title. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.
Charlotte Danahy gets Naperville Central off on the right foot
The runners are off at the sound of the gun. At the start, the whole group splits into two, with Naperville Central sophomore Charlotte Danahy leading her Redhawk team out in front while the rest form a tighter pack behind the leader.
Naperville North races towards the front
As we head towards the first mile, Danahy and Naperville North’s Shania Tandon have a good lead with more runners approaching. The next group includes Neuqua’s Arianna Namvar, Metea’s Kaylee Russell, and Naperville North runners Rianna Tandon and Chole Piot. Carly Ernst of Naperville Central is currently running in the top seven, just ahead of more runners like Katherine Heap and Dhanya Shanmugasundaram from Waubonsie.
At the baseball fence, Charlotte Danahy has a considerable lead and looks to hold off Shania Tandon and Chloe Piot, who are in the top three for the Huskies. Russell and Namvar are neck and neck with each other as Carly Ernst trails behind. Remaining in the top 8 are Redhawk Emma Breese and Huskie Josephine Olson.
With the sun shining on the grass, Danahy still maintains her comfortable advantage while approaching the two-mile mark. The top four remain the same for Tandon, Piot, and Namvar while staying together. Kaylee Russell runs in the top five alongside Josephine Olson. DeKalb’s Alex Schwantes is able to hold her own in the top seven. Elliana White from North is leading a trio of Redhawk runners, Hannah Zei, Eloise Graft, and Emma Breese. Waubonsie Valley’s Katherine Heap and Metea Valley’s Srinika Gundlapally are around the top 15, with Valentine Abramov from North and Valentina Namvar from Neuqua. Mia Bertollini from Waubonsie is around the top 20.
Naperville North earns another girls cross country DVC crown
Approaching the finish line, Charlotte Danahy of Naperville Central takes home the individual win by over 20 seconds with a time of 18:22.
Coming in 2nd place is Shania Tandon with a time of 18:44. Rounding out third place is Ariana Namvar with a time of 18:50. Running into the top seven are Metea Valley’s Kaylee Russell, DeKalb’s Alex Schwantes, and Naperville North’s Chloe Piot and Josephine Olson. Katherine Heap, Hannah Zei, Eloise Graft, Elliana White and Emma Breese finish out the top 12.
The depth of Naperville North helps the Huskies to a 14th consecutive conference crown with a score of 39. Naperville Central with a strong showing as well in second place at 49. Addison Guskey, Delaney Fastabend, and Anoki Raikar help Neuqua Valley finish third with Metea Valley in fourth and Waubonsie Valley in fifth.
For more prep sports highlights, visit the Naperville Sports Weekly page!
