By Kyle Daubs

There aren’t too many sisters that get to say they competed in cross country and volleyball together. 

The two sports normally collide during the fall season, but with COVID-19 pushing volleyball season to the spring, both Ashley and Chloe Jobe (above) were able to participate in cross country for the first time. 

Ashley, a sophomore, shined during the cross country season towards the end of the season. The girls’ cross country team advanced to the IHSA Sectional after placing in the top 6 at Regional. That included a sensational performance from Ashley, who shed 1 minute, 8 seconds off her PR to finish with MHS’s second-best time. 

However, those performances won’t be repeated. Ashley won’t participate in volleyball until she rehabilitates from surgery from an injury she had after cross country season. 

“I’m not going to like it as much, but I am just going to take it one step at a time,” said Ashley.

Ashley has one volleyball goal, for sure. 

“Beating Charleston and coming closer as a team right off the bat,” said Ashley. “We want to be more on the competitive side this year and play as a team, and not individually.”

Chloe, entering her senior year, plan to compete in both cross country and volleyball this year. Jobe will be the only senior on what appears to be a very young cross country team. 

Apollo Conference runner-up Kylie Haacke has now graduated, but she was the lone senior last year. Jobe cites the guidance she received from Haacke as a factor in helping her lead this year’s squad. 

“I loved working with Kylie last year,” said Chloe. “I was the only upperclassman last year, so Kylie told me that if I was going to do this next year, she needed to teach me what it was all about. It felt like we co-captained at times. I learned so much from her and I think I can do some amazing things moving forward.”

As for volleyball, the team finished 2-11 last season in the shortened year and lost four seniors. In terms of goals, Chloe was on the same page about some of the team’s top priorities. 

“Charleston has always been a rival, so we always want to beat Charleston,” said Chloe. “Outside of that, we just want to win the majority of our games. Our JV team last year focused on playing as a whole, not having one person outshine the other. That’s what being a team means.”