Title IX Was Felt at First Macoupin County Girls’ Track Meet

By TOM EMERY

Enquirer~Democrat Contributor

 

Tuesday, June 23 marks the anniversary of the passage of Title IX in 1972. The winds of change were quickly felt in central Illinois.

 

Just eleven months later, the first Macoupin County Girls Track Meet was held. Within a few years, girls’ track in the county, and across the state, would be joined by volleyball, basketball, and cross country, among others.

 

It would be years before the girls’ meet reached equal footing with the boys’ meet. But at least, Macoupin County girls had a chance in athletics in 1973.

 

That inaugural meet was held on May 9 at Carlinville and not surprisingly, it came and went with little fanfare. In Carlinville, the local Macoupin County Enquirer devoted a mere four paragraphs to the meet.

 

The smallest school in the field, Palmyra Northwestern, took top honors with consistency in every discipline. Though the Wildcats captured only three individual crowns, they finished in the top-five in every event to finish with 55 points, ahead of Girard with 43.36. Carlinville was third at 33.93.

 

Like the Enquirer, the Girard Gazette offered scant coverage, and apparently expected little from the home team. “Surprising as it seems,” wrote the Gazette, “the girls from the Girard track team pulled second place out of seven” at the meet.

 

Northwestern, meanwhile, reveled in the win. Due partly to its size, Northwestern teams traditionally struggled against larger county rivals in most sports before the controversial decision to co-op across the board with Greenfield in 2011.

 

The 1973 girls’ track title is the only county championship in any sport for Northwestern, which was established in 1948.

 

The Wildcats were led by Delores Darley, a Massachusetts native who had been a teacher in the Northwestern district since 1968. Her husband, Bob, was also a teacher and coach at Northwestern.

 

Like many others, Darley was just learning the sport of track. “I played basketball in college, and had run the hurdles before,” she said. “But nothing prepared me to teach the throws.”

 

Read the full story in the July 16, 2026 issue of the Macoupin County Enquirer~Democrat.