2023 NewsTribune Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year

Daniella Bumber is a sprinter.

So running cross country never entered her mind.

Before her freshman year, she was planning on playing volleyball. But some friends texted her to suggest she try cross country and she decided to go for it, joining the Henry-Midland cross country team last year as a freshman.

“After a long and thought-out process, I thought cross country would help me in the long run, and even if I’m not super good at it, the conditioning will help,” Bumber said. “Last year I ran with some of my best friends and they were super awesome about making sure I did it and the motivation was always there to do it.”

She was good at it.

Bumber placed 21st at the Class 1A Oregon Sectional as a freshman, narrowly missing a state berth.

After winning three state medals in track and field in the spring, she took her distance running to another level this fall as a sophomore.

“Before I was just going out and running 3 miles, but this year I was really focusing on mechanics and learning how to do splits,” Bumber said.

Bumber won the Lowpoint-Washburn/Roanoke-Benson Invite, placed second in the Tri-County Conference Meet, finished fourth in the Class 1A Seneca Regional and 11th in the Oregon Sectional to earn her first trip to the state meet where she broke 19 minutes for the first time, placing 62nd in 18:59.89.

“For being a sprinter, I think she did a fantastic job. She said she’s not a distance runner, which I think she kind of proved herself wrong on that.”

—  Carrie Meffert, Henry-Midland coach

For all she accomplished this season, Bumber is the 2023 NewsTribune Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year.

“For being a sprinter, I think she did a fantastic job,” first-year Henry-Midland coach Carrie Meffert said. “She said she’s not a distance runner, which I think she kind of proved herself wrong on that.”

Bumber said she had a tough start to the season.

“I kind of had a rocky start at the beginning of the season,” Bumber said. “My second, third and fourth weeks, I wasn’t really doing that well, and I wasn’t motivated.”

However, she found motivation in some negative comments she heard and she started to turn up her effort in practice.

“I started working extra hard in practice,” Bumber said. “I started trying to keep up with the boys and make sure I was ahead of them at times because the boys on our team are good, so I was like, ‘If I can keep up with them, then I can do it in meets.’ That was the biggest thing. I was trying to make sure I was staying hydrated and getting a lot of sleep because previously I wasn’t sleeping very well and wasn’t taking care of my diet. I realized I needed to take a step back, focus on myself, really work hard at practice, then get out there and do it.

“Then Tri-County came around, and I did.”

Bumber ran a 21:09.8 to place second at the TCC Meet, then followed it up with a win at the LWRB Invite on Oct. 3. Right before the postseason, she ran a season-best 19:09.7 at the Patriot Invitational, which is run at the state course at Detweiller Park.

At state, she ran her personal best 18:59.9.

“I went out and I ran a 5:55 first mile, and that was such a surreal moment for me because I was like, ‘OK, I can actually get in the 18s,’” Bumber said. “I’d been saying I want to get in the 18s, but now it’s really happening. I could do it. That really helped push me to do better.”

Now having broken 19 minutes and competed at state, Bumber has her sights set on even better performances in her final two years of high school.

“I think at the pace that I’m going, next year I could be in the mid-17s, and my senior year I really hope to break the 17 mark,” Bumber said. “That would be awesome for me. I believe in myself, and I think I can do it if just keep working toward it, staying mentally prepared, I have a good feeling I can keep progressing.”

Meffert expects her sprinter-turned-distance runner will have more success, as well.

“She’s a sprinter by nature, so she tends to want to go out a little too fast sometimes,” Meffert said. “She’s still working and playing with that because being a sprinter, you have a shorter distance to run. She’s still figuring out the cross country portion. By next season, since she’s gone to state this year, which is just amazing being her second season running distance, I think she’ll have that figured out and know where she needs to be. It’s just a matter of her feeling out her body to see where she needs to push and where she needs to hold back.

“I can definitely see her going to state the next two years. It will be my second year coaching next year. Now that I’ve been with the kids and seen where they’re at and I know what I want to do with them, I think with the new training program we’re going to do next year, I think she’ll have no problem getting at least into the 18s if not under.”