Girls Cross Country Athlete of the Year: Oswego’s Audra Soderlind capped off spectacular year with record state run

Audra Soderlind could not have imagined a better sight in store for her at the finish line in Detweiler Park earlier this month.

Or a sweeter result.

As the Oswego junior, running individually at state with her team not qualifying, headed for home in the Class 3A race, her teammates were waiting for her, making the trip to Peoria to provide moral support.

“It was disappointing to not be able to go as a team, but seeing them all at the line for me, it was a nice moment after all the chaos of the last year,” Soderlind said. “That was the best part, was them waiting at the line.”

There was plenty to celebrate.

Breaking Isabelle Christiansen’s school record by 1.26 seconds, Soderlind ran a lifetime best 17 minutes, 0.2 seconds, good for 15th in the Class 3A race and All-State status. It was a 24-second PR for Soderlind in her second state meet.

“She was hoping to get into the 17:20s and she just crushed it,” first-year Oswego coach Colleen Predl said. “We asked her if she was disappointed that she didn’t break 17 minutes and I’m sure she was, but she agreed that she had an incredible run. She executed the game plan perfectly.”

In doing so, Soderlind provided a fitting conclusion to a spectacular year. Soderlind won the Southwest Prairie Conference championship, was second at regionals and sixth in a loaded sectional at Hinsdale Central.

But the Record Newspapers Girls Cross Country Athlete of the Year surpassed it all with her performance at state.

“It was obviously a huge goal of mine to achieve that All-State position and getting to the 17-flat mark was really exciting,” Soderlind said. “It was a really good demonstration of my abilities after last year with the postseason getting cut short. I knew I was in shape to do it, it was just a matter of execution and a right pack of people. I kind of knew I wanted to be in that top 20ish range, and going out fast and holding my position was kind of the goal.”

Predl was impressed at how Soderlind navigated a season in which she at times was running alone, well ahead of the pack.

“I don’t think there was one race that she would have been disappointed in,” Predl said. “Sometimes girls race good one week, not so good the next. She was running some races that she had to run all by herself which is super tough mentally and hard to pace yourself. Even races she didn’t win, she could see how much she could push herself.”

Soccer was actually Soderlind’s first athletic pursuit growing up. She always enjoyed the running aspect of that particular sport, and made the pivot to running cross country full time in seventh grade. Soderlind’s mom ran cross country in high school, and was always a big inspiration to Audra.

“My mom and I talk about running a lot, about the mental state that you want to be in before competition, being mentally fit as well as physically fit,” Soderlind said. “She ran in high school, and we both gravitated toward distance events.”

As a freshman Soderlind placed 39th at state, helping lead Oswego to an 11th-place finish. She followed that up by taking second at conference, sixth at regionals and eighth at sectionals as a sophomore in the abbreviated 2020 postseason, and in the spring won a sectional championship in the 3,200 meters and took 15th at the state track meet.

Predl, who has been coaching at Oswego for close to a decade, said it isn’t hard to recognize why Soderlind has been so successful. She has few peers in preparation and practice.

“She is probably the most dedicated athlete that I have ever seen,” Predl said. “If she knows she has a race the next day, you won’t find her out late at a football game or wherever. She knows everything she needs to do. She knows she needs to get a good night’s sleep, knows exactly what she needs to do in terms of nutrition, she even pushes herself outside of practice. She’ll wake up in the morning and do an ab routine, however many pushups. She pushes herself beyond what is asked of her.”

Coming out of track season and going into summer training Soderlind said she knew she would have to keep her intensity up. She continued on throughout the season, maintaining a high level of intensity in workouts even through the last weeks of the season to keep her mental state fit for the state meet.

“She has been so consistent the years that I have been with her,” Predl said. “I don’t know if she has ever had a bad practice or a bad meet. And she carries herself really well. She doesn’t vocalize going into a race that my goal is to beat so and so. Really for her it’s about running the best race that she can.”

Record Newspapers All-Area girls cross country team

Ana Barroso, Oswego East, senior; Morgan Dick, Oswego East, sophomore; Makenna Edwards, Yorkville, junior; Anna Hunter, Yorkville, senior; Margaret Hunter, Yorkville, senior; Angeles Mendoza, Oswego East, junior; Joanna Rivera, Sandwich, freshman; Audra Soderlind, Oswego, junior;