As the ILS fall season sports near the end, the amount of effort and commitment each team has been putting in is tremendous.

These past few months have included some of ILS biggest achievements, with the girls volleyball team winning districts, to Peter Hellebrand finishing third in golf districts, the cross country team beating their personal records, and to the swim team qualifying regionals.

With such great energy this year there are always room for improvement.

“I think all the sports did tremendous. They all competed at a high level, while representing the school the way they should. I am extremely proud of all the coaches and fall teams,” said Nick Fernandez, ILS Athletic Director.

Fernandez is in his second year as the school’s athletic director, and he’s overseen improvements across the board among the school’s programs.

“The golf team did a great job this season,” he said. “They ended there season with satisfaction and strength. The team however is still relatively young so there is a lot of space for growth in the team. Sophomore Peter Hellebrand made the team stand out. Coach Rydborn is doing an amazing job at coaching the program.”

Fernandez was proud of the hard work and dedication of all the programs that participated during the fall season, including the cross country team and swim team. He complemented “the dedication and hard work they have been putting in.”

Although the football team didn’t put up an amazing season there effort and pride still stood high and strong.

“The team just has to stay the course,” Fernandez explained. “We have a really great coaching staff in place that has an off-season plan for the team after giving them a couple months off. They will be back in the weight room training to stay in shape and continue to grow physically and mentally.”

The biggest accomplishment, though, has to be the girls’ varsity volleyball team winning the district championship. It’s the volleyball program’s first district championship since 2016.

“It means so much to the program! We made a coaching change at the end of last season and promoted and assistant to the head coaching position. We thought the program needed a little jolt of energy since we all knew we had quality players. We believe it did just that! It also shows that all the hard work and dedication the players and coaches put in from the start of summer until now pays off when you win the championship. Definitely a great season to build off of.”

Each and every team showed there dedication and hard work this season, but there still a lot of growth and improvement for all the teams but we are proud of them here at ILS.

“As we continue to change the culture and overall outlook of the athletic department, we need to continue to work on the things we can control like our attitude and effort on and off the field and court,” Fernandez said. “The rest will take care of itself.”