Sophia’s choice is Bradley
After contemplating a victory lap at Blessed Trinity in 2024-25, Sophia Cino has decided it is time to start her post secondary running career.
The Grade 12 student has opted to sign a scholarship with NCAA Division 1 Bradley University in Peoria. Ill.
“I visited Bradley, I visited a couple of other schools as well and I just really liked all of my visits,” the 17-year-old Grimsby resident said. “I just decided that I was ready and I did want to go this upcoming year. I also figured out what I wanted to do school-wise and I decided I wanted to study nutrition. Making the final decision helped a lot because while I am going for running I am also going for school and I wanted to make sure I knew which degree I wanted.”
The two-time Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association senior girls cross country champion made two official visits to schools in the United States and also toured the University of Guelph before ultimately deciding on Bradley after a December visit.
“It is a really small school. I think they have about 6,000 students and I thought that was amazing. The class ratio is 12 students to one teacher and I thought that was great especially for a university,” she said. “Then I met the coaches and really loved both of them. They have an amazing team and I met a lot of the girls.”
Cino was delighted with the international makeup of the team.
“They have girls from Italy, Spain and England and they are bringing in two freshmen from Ireland. It will be amazing to meet so many people from so many different backgrounds.”
She felt the love from the coaching staff.
“They recruited me really well and were super honest with how everything runs there and they offered me a scholarship right away. I am super grateful that I met them and all of this happened.”
She can’t wait to get started.
“I am looking forward to going to a new place, meeting new people and being on a team with a bunch of other girls. I am excited to be a part of something like that.”
She would love to make an immediate impression at the school.
“I know they are focused on cross country which is another reason why I was drawn to that school because I love cross country. I want to do my best to be a contributing member on the team,” Cino said. “I think they take six or seven to different meets and I would love to be one of those six or seven girls on the team and scoring.”
This past season, the Bradley women’s cross country team was sixth out of 32 teams at the NCAA Midwest Regionals.
The Runners’ Edge club member came fourth at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations championships in Grade 11 and fifth in Grade 12. She was 11th at the under-18 nationals in Grade 11 and 16th in the under-20 nationals this year.
“I feel like I haven’t really been running competitively for that long so I have learned a lot and grown a lot. I love my team at Runners’ Edge and my coach Benny (Ralston) is amazing. They have showed me so much that I didn’t know before because I am still new to it,” she said. “I always enjoyed running and I did it all the way through elementary school for fun and I never really trained that hard for it. I actually started training competitively outside of school at a club in Grade 10.”
Cino feels there are a number of skills that she has improved upon.
“Strategy for sure and trusting myself and knowing things. My coach tells me that I am a second-half racer so it’s trusting that I don’t have to be great at the start and I can take my time and ease into the race. In the second half, that is my race. It is also trusting my training and trusting all the work we have put in as a team.”
She plans to work hard to make sure she is ready for her freshman season.
“I am going to keep training with Runners’ Edge and we are going to train really hard for the outdoor season because I definitely want to get some PBs there.”
She is planning to focus on the 3,000 metres and maybe run the 1,500 metres as well.
