Shepard High School asked coaches to write season summaries on the best moments, highlights, and achievements of their teams this fall. Here's coach Angie Ochoa writing about girls cross country:
There was a lot of uncertainty going into the season. We didn’t know to what extent we were going to be able to compete this year. We were lucky enough to have a season. We treated every day that we got to spend together as a team as a gift.
We knew that we could get shut down at any moment. With everything going on in the world, I wanted practice to be the highlight of the everyone’s day. We didn’t get the foundational work over the summer due to limitations with COVID.
Find out what's happening in Oak Lawnfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Our overall performance wasn’t what we hoped. We had to be patient with our progress. The girls improved over the course of the season. Our freshmen Maddie Knies and Emma Greene improved their time for 3 miles by 7 minutes and 5 minutes respectively over our 8 week season.
We had some success on the conference level with having 2 girls earn all-Conference honors on the Varsity level. Junior Estefania Lopez was 7th place and sophomore Natalia Kiernia was 10th place.
Find out what's happening in Oak Lawnfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
We had a group of committed girls that attended practice every day with a positive attitude. They created a fun and caring atmosphere with a commitment to working hard and improving as athletes. We were thankful to have a season and appreciated the time together and to be able to shut our minds off of the stresses surrounding us.
From left, Emma Greene, Sofia Sensi (Italian foreign exchange student), Amina Qureshi, Estefania Lopez, Maddie Knies, Meyah Sanchez, Natalia Kiernia
Sofia joined the team and has been a really great addition to the team. She was welcomed with open arms to the team. She's been hard working and encouraging to others.