Sunny Weber has spent the last calendar year stacking together state championships in distance races.

She checked off another this month.

The Sandwich senior repeated as a state cross country champion – this time in a loaded Class 1A field.

Weber became the 1A state champion in another school-record 15:54.42 for 3.0 miles that just missed breaking the girls Detweiller Park course record of 15:53.4.

Weber has now won four distance championships in the last year, with the Class 2A cross country title last fall and 1,600 and 3,200-meter championships at the state track and field meet last spring. Weber also took second in 1A cross country as a freshman and third as a sophomore.

Already cementing herself as one of the best athletes to ever come out of Sandwich, Weber recently secured her future. She verbally committed to Duke the week leading up to state.

Sunny Weber is the Record Newspapers girls cross country Athlete of the Year.

Here is her Q&A with Sports Editor Joshua Welge.

What does it mean to repeat as a state champion? Where does this title rank?

Weber: I am very happy and thankful for all the support I’ve had during this season to help me reclaim my title! For me cross country is definitely a lot harder than track, so being able to achieve my goals I’ve had since the beginning of the season is such a rewarding feeling. During practice I always used this race as a motivator to help push myself when I felt defeated or tired because I knew it was not going to be easy. Knowing how hard I worked for this title and knowing how hard I pushed myself throughout the race definitely ranks this title very high!

You broke your school record and came quite close to breaking a state course record. Were you aware of it?

Weber: I knew that I was going to get a personal record during my race, but I was not aware of how close I was to the state record because there was no clock at the end, so I’m proud of myself for almost getting it!

Obviously, the 1A field was super strong. How much was that talked about with your coach during the season? Was that a motivator knowing you’d have great competition?

Weber: We talked a lot about the level of competition I was going to face at the state meet throughout the season and being aware of that definitely helped me feel comfortable when the race actually started because I knew what to expect. It was definitely a great motivator to have that level of competition because I knew we were all going to be able to push one another!

So I heard you committed to Duke. How did it come together with them? What made you decide to commit there?

Weber: I have been communicating with the Duke coaches since last November, so I had a really good feel and idea what life is like for the athletes at Duke before the actual visit. When I was on my visit I knew it was the right place for me because of the great team culture they have, excellent coaching, and it will help set me up for my future goals!

What’s the emotions of getting to compete at quite a prestigious athletic and academic institution? Do you know yet what you plan to study?

Weber: I am very thankful and super excited for what’s to come! I definitely want to pursue a career involving radiology!

Besides obviously state what other moments from this year stand out?

Weber: Another moment that stands out to me is the First to the Finish race earlier this season! I was definitely worried about the competition leading up to that race as well as during the race. There were points during the race where I wanted to give up and wanted to settle but I continued to believe and push myself. Being able to overcome that and achieve my best time during the season showed me that I was capable of so much more if I fixed my mindset and truly trusted myself and my training!

What’s next competition-wise? Any regional or national races?

Weber: This past weekend I competed in the Midwest Nike Regionals and I qualified for Nike Nationals, so I will be running in Portland, Oregon on December 6th!