Dani Sullivan won the Conference Indiana cross-country meet last month, but she was more than a little concerned the next day.

That’s when she began feeling soreness on the top of her foot, a sign of a possible stress fracture.

“We were all kind of nervous because it was on the bone,” said the Franklin Central senior. “It was the middle part of the season. We just wanted to take every precaution.”

Good news was on the horizon, however. An MRI exam revealed just normal tissue soreness.

Coach Jack Spence had Sullivan sit out the New Palestine Sectional on Oct. 13, but it didn’t slow her down much upon her return.

She cruised to victory in Saturday’s Rushville Regional with a time of 19 minutes, 22.13 seconds, nearly 30 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor.

“I was excited that I ran well, but I have goals for myself,” said Sullivan, who now will go for the title at the loaded Carmel Semistate on Saturday. “I wasn’t going to take time off from running and not come back in the same shape I was in.”

Spence said Sullivan needed the time off, but the weather was so poor between the sectional and regional that she seldom got outside to run, relying on swimming and stationary biking instead.

Having an athlete take four days off of running is not what a coach wants at this time of year. But the payoff is that Sullivan now appears to be pain free, he said.

Sullivan is something of a late bloomer in the sport. She played several sports while attending Lutheran elementary schools growing up and played volleyball as a freshman at Franklin Central.

But she ran track the following spring, and she enjoyed it so much she switched to cross-country the following fall.

She finished fourth in the 3,200-meter run at the state track meet this spring. She won the Marion County cross-country title this fall and was first in her division at the FlashRock Invitational, which was on the same course that will be used in the semistate.

“I think I love (running) the way I do because I didn’t get started until I was older and more mature,” she said. “I’ve got a pretty good understanding of it.”

Even in a loaded field this weekend, the Flashes are expected to advance as a team to the Oct. 31 state meet in Terre Haute. Sullivan said she would love to win the individual title at the regional, but she primarily wants to peak for the state meet.

“My goals for Saturday are basically to keep doing the same things,” she said. “Go out hard with the lead pack. Have my teammate Jasmine (Al-Anzi, Franklin Central’s No. 2 runner) right there with me and get myself in good position.”