Staff report
On Jan. 27, the Ohio Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches will hold its annual Hall of Fame Banquet, and a former Minster High School standout will be among the inductees.
Sunni (Olding) Lomnicki, who is a chiropractor in Minster, join the OATCCC Hall ofFame when the ceremony takes place at the Hilton at Easton in Columbus that night.
When Lomnicki left Minster High School in 2004, she left behind a spectacular string of championship level performances rarely seen in state track and field history.
In cross country, she was a three-time state champion and led the Minster Lady Wildcats to state championships in two of those years.
On the national stage, she qualified from the Foot Locker Midwest Regional to the national championships in San Diego, where she twice earned All-American honors.
Her senior year, she was chosen as the National Cross Country Runner of the Year.
In track, she was even more spectacular. Minster won the state championship all four years of her career, led by her nine individual state titles and three runner-up finishes.
Her four 1600 meter titles made her only the ninth athlete in Ohio history to win the same event all four years, and she was undefeated in the 3200 meter relay, the 1600 meters and the 3200 meters throughout her junior and senior years.
Her 10:32.75 3200 meter time from 2003 remains the high school Division 3 record today.
Nationally, she won two national 3200 meter titles and was named USA Today All-American her junior and senior years. She was invited to train at the US Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif. and was named by JJ Huddle as one of the top five athletes of the 2000-2010 decade.
Continuing her career for Notre Dame, she earned All-American honors her freshman and sophomore years. Injuries her junior and senior years hindered her final seasons, yet she was still awarded Notre Dame’s Top Gun academic award as well as being named an ESPN Academic All-American for graduating with Summa Cum Laude honors.
She continues to live in Minster and still runs.
