Cross Country notes: Sandwich freshman Sunny Weber off to brilliant start to high school career

Sunny Weber was a reluctant runner when her mom first signed her up for cross country in fifth grade. Then she took a break from competing after the pandemic hit.

Good thing Weber came back.

The Sandwich freshman is making quite the smashing debut this fall.

Weber won her first-ever high school race, by more than six seconds at the Morris Early Bird Invite. She has not slowed down since, winning six of her first seven races this season with a personal record of 17 minutes, 59.7 seconds at the Rock River Run in Sterling this past Saturday.

“I don’t really know the words, how I would describe this season,” Weber said. “I guess I have surprised myself that I’m doing this good.”

Weber’s early success has certainly been eye-opening to Sandwich coach Michael Lee. Lee admitted he did not know much about Weber before this year, although he had heard stuff from middle school. To Lee, Weber’s most impressive race this season is probably the only one she didn’t win. At the First to the Finish Invite at Detweiler Park in Peoria, site of the state meet, Weber placed seventh among 471 Class 1A runners in 18:15.7.

“Her placing seventh at that huge meet in Peoria is astounding as a freshman, that is crazy,” Lee said. “The first three meets she got first, she almost blew away the competition in a sense. Last week she led the pack the entire time and didn’t slow up. To see where she is as freshman, and to think about the next few years, it’s kind of nuts.”

Weber started running in fifth grade. She wanted to quit after her mom signed her up, but her mom convinced her to stick with it, suggesting that Weber would regret it if she gave it up.

“She wanted me to play sports and be active,” Weber said. “In fourth grade I did softball but I didn’t like it.”

Cross country proved a good fit. Weber got 12th in the state as a sixth-grader. She stopped running after COVID hit during track season. She said that seventh and eighth grade were not good cross country seasons for her.

“We did see the potential in her [before the season],” Lee said. “Now seeing it in actual competition, it’s one of those things that you believe it when you see it. And we’re seeing it. We had some of her times from middle school so we knew she’d be successful, but I don’t want to say that we expected this.”

Weber’s early success hearkens comparisons to Sandwich three-time All-Stater Kayla Schiera, who went on to run collegiately at Southern Illinois. Schiera, in fact, came to Sandwich practice before the season, where Weber met her for the first time. Schiera talked to Weber and the current Sandwich runners about having a healthy mindset and eating right.

“I have a feeling as a team you will see us be successful in regionals and sectionals,” Lee said. “From an individual standpoint with Sunny, it’s almost like you should a hotel soon for state.”

Yorkville’s ‘midterm’ in Minnesota

Yorkville, for the fifth time in the last six years, traveled to Minneapolis for the prestigious Roy Griak Invitational this past Friday. The event, in its 35th year, brought together runners from nine states, with Yorkville joined by Neuqua Valley and Plainfield North on the boys side and Naperville North and Hononegah on the girls side from Illinois.

“This is kind of like our midterm for the season,” Yorkville coach Chris Muth said. “Our biggest hope is to always try to get that team bonding as concrete as possible, getting the kids together as a team. That’s the most important thing. We want good results as well, but that’s secondary at this point.”

The Foxes should feel good about the results they brought home.

Yorkville placed sixth out of 53 teams on the girls side and 17th out of 55 teams on the boys side. Sophomore Sophia Keeler (46th, 19:56.7) and Ava Galloway (54th, 20:15.0) paced the Yorkville girls on the 5,000-meter course. Ben Whaley (61st, 16:53.4) was the top Yorkville finisher in the boys race.

Yorkville, which is currently ranked 17th in Class 3A on the girls side by ILXTF.com, has another big meet coming up on Oct. 5, the Twilight Invite at Naperville North.

“We are trying to zone in on controlling what we can, realizing roles, we are still in that transition. We are hopeful that we are rounding into it,” Muth said. “I think that the best is yet to come. As long as we continue to take steps forward, that’s all you can ask for.”

Oswego East fifth at two big invites

Oswego East’s girls teams took fifth place at the 19-team Hornet/Red Devil Invitational in Hinsdale Sept. 3, and followed that up with another fifth-place finish out of 57 teams at the Richard Spring Invitational in Peoria Sept. 17.

Morgan Dick (39th, 18:40.5) was Oswego East’s first finisher in Peoria, with PRs from Monica Lopez (43rd, 18:43.9), Josslyn Gaona (58th, 19:06.3) and Meghan Johnson (70th, 19:18.8).

“We thought we would be in the conversation for the top five,” Oswego East coach Lisa Cook said. “The potential was there. It was an interesting dynamic of how they stepped up and filled for each other. Morgan and Angeles [Mendoza], ironically, they were the two most experienced runners, and they were probably the most disappointed in their performances. It’s awesome the way the rest of the team stepped up.”

Oswego East on Friday competed at the Naperville Invitational, taking second behind Naperville Central. Dick was seventh in 18:42.18 and Sydney Williams 12th in 18:51.54.

“What we have seen so far gives us a lot of confidence and encouragement to where our team is heading,” Cook said. “We know everyone is capable of going even faster. This group is very capable. I anticipate switches in the lineup. One through seven will never be the same.”