BV's Sanden dreaming of a red Christmas

MANLIUS — The Sandens may not get their White Christmas, but it’s certainly going to be a red one.

Bureau Valley senior Kimi Sanden will run cross country and track for the Illinois State Redbirds next fall. She waited to have her admission letter come through online and then verbally committed to ISU head cross country coach Jeff BoveeTuesday.

“I wanted to commit before Christmas to get it out of the way. I didn’t want to wait any longer,” Sanden said.

She confirmed it will be a red Christmas at home.

“Oh my mom definitely ordered sweatshirts for everybody,” she said with a laugh.

The Storm distance standout said she visited the ISU campus during the summer and really liked it

“I liked it that it was a little bigger campus, but not too spread out,” said Sanden, who also looked into Northern Illinois.

BV coach Dale Donner said he’s glad to see Sanden pick his old alma mater.

“I know she has put a lot of effort into looking at colleges, and I think she made a good choice to not just run for the Redbirds, but to get a great education at Illinois State,” he said.

Sanden came out for cross country for the first time her junior year and received all-state honors with a 16th-place finish. She also qualified for state this year but considers herself a relatively newcomer to the longer distance.

“I’m still kind of new to the cross country thing and I’d be going there more for track, but after some more work in cross country, I can get better,” she said.

Next spring, Sanden will continue running the 800, which she has qualified for state twice, and wants to put more work into the mile. She placed eighth in the 800 with a time of 2:17..47 and wants to work getting that time down.

Sanden said Hall graduate Scott Janusick, who is a freshmen runner for ISU, said he likes it down there and was happy to have her come aboard. Another former Hall athlete, Kendall Rush, runs women’s track for ISU.

BV classmate Derrick Johnson was considering ISU as well, but Donner believes he is leaning toward Eastern Illinois.