Ahtziri Zepeda earned the full varsity experience with the Lady Hub cross country team during her freshman season, cutting three minutes off her personal-best time and competing alongside her Rochelle teammates in all three postseason meets including the Interstate 8 Conference Championships, the IHSA 2A Sterling Regional and the IHSA 2A Belvidere Sectional.

Zepeda returned to the Lady Hubs for her sophomore season this past fall, becoming Rochelle’s No. 3 varsity runner before an injury slowed her progress late in the season. Despite the injury, Zepeda helped the Lady Hubs to three victories and lowered her personal record even further, breaking the 24-minute mark for the first time in her high school career during Rochelle’s four-team meet with Genoa-Kingston, North Boone and West Carroll at Walcamp Park.

“I felt very strong during my sophomore season,” Zepeda said. “I had been training during the summer, even though most of our summer training was at home. I felt like most of my practices were very successful in getting me toward my goals. I definitely want to train harder next year and focus more on small things like my form and stretching. One of my main goals for my junior season is to focus more on endurance training while preventing any types of injuries.”

After running a 24:22 at Walcamp Park, Zepeda improved her PR once again during Rochelle’s victory over Plano, clocking in at 24:15 despite rainy racing conditions. Zepeda, who has been running cross country since she was in middle school, finished with a 24:21 against Sandwich before recording her fastest time of the season at Morris, entering the 23-minute range for the first time with a 23:54. Zepeda will look to further improve that time during her junior season.

“The whole team did very well this season,” Zepeda said. “We gave it our all on race days and we always strived to improve. I hope we can have a few more runners qualify for sectionals next year. My role on the team this year was to motivate some of the girls to push harder and I hope it will be the same way next year… I’ve always loved competing, even outside of sports.”