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Making cross country a sibling activity

At Wheaton Academy the families that run together, well, they run together.

Out of 44 total athletes on Wheaton Academy's boys and girls cross country teams there are four pairs of siblings, including the Lotz twins, Ryan on the boys' squad, Kayla on the girls'.

Joining them are junior Jimmy Ridge and sophomore brother Jeffrey, senior Jacob Robleski and sophomore Julia, and senior Mitchell Smith and junior Rebecca.

This is actually down from 2014 when Jonah Jones ran with older brother Chris and Gretchen Pearson was a teammate with sister Annika. Chris and Annika have since graduated.

To put this in perspective Neuqua Valley boys cross country coach Paul Vandersteen said he has about 130 boys on the squad and named only Zach and Austin Kinne as varsity siblings although identical twins Paul and Calvin McIntyre run on a lower level. Vandersteen guesses there may be four brother-sister combos such as Connor and Kaitlyn Horn.

A program closer in size to Wheaton Academy, St. Francis has one sibling set, senior Jacob Kolker and sophomore Ellen - though Spartans coach Scott Nelson noted, "I usually have three to five."

Wheaton Academy co-coach Chris Felinski, who heads the boys team while Jim Spivey works mainly with the girls, said it is "very unusual to have that many" sets of siblings. The reason is not unusual.

"So many of our families here just love to run. We're just lucky to have them come through here all at once," Felinski said.

"The Smiths, the Lotzes, the Robleskis are runners. They're athletic families, they know the importance of running so the families do it."

Whatever family dramas may occur at home, the Wheaton Academy sibling don't bring them to workouts.

"We don't hear about any stories at home about how one person picked on the other," Felinski said.

Jacob Robleski agreed.

"We're a really close team overall and I think having a lot of sibling pairs doesn't do anything to affect it negatively," said the senior, a boys co-captain with Jonah Jones.

"I think it helps," Robleski said. "I think it's a good thing overall, it doesn't necessarily change any dynamics the team might have."

The typical sniping between brother and sister is not apparent during a call to the Robleski home.

"It's really cool to have my brother on the team," Julia Robleski said. "It means a lot to have him there for all the meets and practices and everything."

As a freshman it helped ease Julia to have her older brother around in athletics. In turn it's strengthened their bond at home.

"It's definitely brought Jacob and I closer having cross country and track in common," she said.

Speaking of cross country ...

Wheaton Academy's boys and girls cross country teams are each in the top 15 of Class 2A in this week's Illinois Cross Country Coaches Poll. A preseason No. 15, the Warriors girls now are 14th and the boys 11th. Montini's girls rose a slot to No. 8 while Hinsdale South's boys are at No. 4.

In Class 3A girls Naperville North remains lodged at No. 1 with Glenbard West No. 3. Naperville Central, Wheaton Warrenville South, Neuqua Valley, Hinsdale Central and York all are between Nos. 8-14.

In the Class 3A boys poll, Neuqua Valley is nipping at top-ranked Sandburg with York and Hinsdale Central Nos. 4-5 and Downers Grove North No. 11.

Five questions: Emmy Burris

Fenton's Emelia "Emmy" Burris is a three-time all-Metro Suburban Conference volleyball player, the Bison's most valuable player last season. In the spring she's a state-caliber track athlete, fourth in Class 3A long jump and seventh in the 100-meter dash as a junior. We asked her five questions about sports and such.

Q: What satisfaction do you get from athletics?

A: I realized when I was little I wanted to run because my dad (Jeffrey) was a runner. I always liked his stories of running and high school track meets. Track is my No. 1 sport. I was always racing boys - I didn't race the girls, I was like, I know I can beat you. I was driven by my dad; he was setting middle school and high school (Hoffman Estates) records. I wanted people to know my name.

Q: Is there a sport you haven't tried that you'd like to?

A: Lacrosse, definitely lacrosse. I love homecoming week, and when the girls do the powder puff game. Lacrosse is like football for girls. I just like to run and hit people. It's a combination of running, jumping, working together as a team. All those elements you need, I feel like lacrosse is that sport.

Q: What makes a good teammate?

A: Everybody has their own ability and everybody is different at learning, so definitely it's having patience and being kind and having good sportsmanship. You could be the best player on the team and have the worst attitude and it could bring everybody down.

Q: What's your greatest challenge academically?

A: Probably my math. It takes me longer to get skills, but it's definitely something I've gotten stronger with over the years. That being my weakness, I try to get better at it every day and every day I'm learning something new.

Q: Which comes easier for you, track or volleyball?

A: Definitely track. I can work on myself and work on becoming a better captain, a better athlete by fixing my individual weaknesses. Even though it's also a team sport, it's individual events. In volleyball if one person messes up the whole team is going to get upset and some teams can't shake it off. In track if you scratch or false start your teammates are going to be there for you.

No sweat

Sunday was hot and muggy but Kyle Brady didn't fade at a pair of running events surrounding Naperville's Last Fling.

A Wheaton Warrenville South graduate and 2010 graduate of North Central College, out of 286 finishers Brady won the Fling Mile in 4 minutes, 34 seconds. Eighteen minutes later the Rooster 5K started; 16:38 later Brady again crossed the line in first place out of 287 finishers.

Obviously not a weekend warrior, Brady was a seven-time All-America at North Central. In 2010 he ran in the Division III cross country, indoor track and outdoor track national championships, the sole Cardinal to do so. North Central won all three titles.

doberhelman@dailyherald.com

Follow Dave on Twitter @doberhelman1

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