Wednesday was a great day for OVS sports.
Both the girls’ varsity volleyball and cross country teams concluded their seasons on high notes, with the volleyball squad securing a winning record with a big win over Midland while the cross country girls secured a post-season bid with a second-place finish in the Condor League championship meet.
Both competitions were held at the Upper Campus, in front of large, supportive crowds.
The Spuds’ volleyball team has played strongly throughout the fall, and its emotional 3-1 victory over Midland was evidence of how much the players have progressed.
The girls got out to a fast start, beating Midland in the first two games. But Midland staged a comeback, beating OVS in the third game. It was cold and dark, but seniors Kendall Shiffman and Savannah Moler rallied their team to beat Midland in the fourth and final game.
“The team went into our last game with a dog-fight mindset,” said senior captain Kednall Shiffman, who has played all four years for the Spuds. “We wanted to go out with a win and we were prepared to take down any obstacle in our way preventing us from doing so. Getting to share these experiences with these same girls I sit next to in class means so much to me.
Wednesday was an equally emotional day for the girls’ cross-country team, which became the first running team to earn a CIF berth in more than a decade.
Led by junior Gilim Bae’s third-place finish, many of the girls ran their best races of the season on the tough home Pi course to beat out the team from Dunn School by just three points. Junior Winnie Chang and senior Ally Feiss contributed top ten finishes to help secure the CIF-qualifying finish.
With their second place showing, the OVS girls qualified to participate in the CIF Southern Section preliminaries on Nov. 14 in Riverside.
“I’m really excited to go to CIF, I’ve never gone before,” said senior captain Ally Feiss, who has run with the team all for years. “It’s an awesome way to end my last year of running for OVS. I’m so proud of the girls. No matter how we do in the race I know we will do great as a team.”
On the boys side junior Ted Jung came in 19th place, running the home course in 21:01. Trailing right behind Ted were sophomores Eric Liang and Jacob Tadlock, who ran 21:11 and 21:15 respectively.
The boys came in fifth out of seven teams.
“I couldn’t be more happy with the team’s results,” said senior Cole Zellner, who also ran all four years for OVS. “I didn’t just beat my personal goal of a time under 25 minutes I did it on the hardest course.”
Cole added: “My freshman year Mr. Alvarez told us that this sport would change our lives. I didn’t actually know what he meant till my senior year. Mr. Alvarez gave me the amazing gift of running. This sport did more than make me a better athlete it made me a better person and a student. I can’t imagine life without running.”
