Avery Rich, a Jefferson High School senior who races cross country and Nordic skis and runs track, capped a decorated career with the honor. She finished as state meet runner-up in Nordic skiing in February after placing ninth as a junior, and she's a two-time program MVP with four All-Metro West Conference honors, two academic All-State honors, three All-Conference cross country honors, an all-state cross country honor, two academic all-state track awards, and two years as cross country captain, per the Sun Current.
Rich is headed to Bates College to ski and study environmental engineering.
Allie Sheehan, a Kennedy High School senior, earned her Athena Award as a four-sport athlete who plays volleyball, basketball, softball and flag football. She captained the volleyball, basketball and softball teams, was quarterback for flag football's first two seasons, and set the school's career softball hits record with 122, adding 24 more in 18 games this season, according to the Sun Current.
Off the field, Sheehan is a four-time academic letter winner, a member of National Honor Society and Student Government, an ExCEL award nominee as a junior, and a recipient of the Bloomington Public Schools Senior Achievement Award. Her parents, Katie and Mike Sheehan, both teach at local middle schools; Katie has also served as the PA announcer at softball games. "It's such an honor because this is such a long-lived award," Sheehan said, adding she considers herself "a feminist, go women!"
Sheehan will play softball at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, where she plans to study human biology with an emphasis in exercise science, aiming toward a career in occupational therapy.