Senior Jade Chang joined cross country because of her older brother. As a graduate of the class of 2023, he was a captain on the team and encouraged her to join because of the team’s camaraderie. Upon joining, she appreciated the support the girls on the team had for each other, and now, as a senior, she is so excited to see the new runners fall in love the same way she did.

“It brings me so much joy watching the underclassmen on cross country experience these events that once brought me joy for the first time,” Chang said.

At first, cross country was just a way for Chang to complete her PE credits and spend time with her friends on the team. However, as she became an upperclassman and became an example for younger athletes to follow, the sport became more about leadership and growth.

“It was a really rewarding experience to learn through them in a way,” Chang said. “You would think that because I’m older, I’m the teacher and they’re the students, but quite honestly, I feel like I learned so much through people who are learning themselves.”

Chang actually transferred to Oak Park from La Reina after her freshman year, where the program was much smaller; a team nine strong compared to Oak Park’s nearly 40 girls. Upon her transfer, she noticed that the training regime was much more rigorous than on her old team. This took some time to get used to, but Chang was able to adapt by following one of her favorite quotes: “nothing changes unless you change first.”

“A lot of times we can’t control what other people do, but we can only change how we perceive or how we react to certain things,” Chang said. “In situations where we feel frustrated because we’re experiencing the same things over and over again, I feel like our most powerful and effective tool is to think about what you can change about yourself or your approach.”

Chang loves the yearly altitude conditioning trip that the team takes up to Mammoth in the summer, especially all of the fun team bonding activities they do after they finish their run. Her favorite thing that they do is the talent show towards the end of the trip.

“It’s a really good reminder of why we run all these miles and we wake up so early in the morning,” Chang said. “We all just laugh and we have fun and everyone gets to be silly and be teenagers for a little bit.”

Another one of Chang’s favorite moments is the end-of-season banquet, where, among other things, the team plays a slideshow featuring all the photos of the team collected over the course of the season. 

“I think when you’re in the moment, it all passes by so quickly and you’re always kind of thinking about what’s next,” Chang said. “But when you look back and you pause, you’re like, ‘wait, we actually did so much in the past few months.’”

However, as with all good memories, Chang experienced hardship throughout her running career.

“There were definitely times where I wanted to quit because it was really tiring,” Chang said. “Running just wasn’t super fun, so I was having a lot of doubts if I was gonna stay on the team.” 

Despite struggling through shin and hip injuries her sophomore and junior years, Chang is grateful that she didn’t stop. She believes that cross country is a rewarding activity that brings a sense of accomplishment in an often discouraging academic environment. 

“I’m a strong advocate for ‘healthy mind, healthy body.’ Cross country definitely helps when school is stressful, and I will forever preach that to the girls on cross country when they think about quitting because of academics,” Chang said.

Fortunately, things were able to improve for Chang in the seasons after.

“I think it’s just taking one day at a time and affirming that things will pass, and for lack of better words, thug it out,” Chang said.

Outside of running, Chang has found solace in creativity, like doing her own nail art, and other topics that pique her interest.

“I do a lot of art. I’m also a huge history geek, especially for World War II and post-war America; I adore anything 1950s, like art lit and movies,” Chang said. “I 1000% have Mr. Creason to thank. On the record, Mr. Creason is king.”

In addition to history and art, Chang also loves to read. Some of Chang’s favorite reads as of late are “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” by Gabrielle Zevin and “I’m Glad My Mom Died” by Jeannette McCurdy.


Chang has also enjoyed spending time in nature with her friends, particularly at Oak Canyon Park, which is coincidentally the cross country team’s hilly home course.

“It is actually very pretty and it has a lot of cool trails, but we just don’t realize it because we’re too busy fighting for our lives there,” Chang said.

Another one of Chang’s favorite quotes is “to love is to be known,” and correspondingly, some of her favorite moments in life are when a loved one reaches out and says they saw something online or at a store that reminded them of her or their friendship. 

“I feel very loved when people do that because it feels like they know me,” Chang said. “Recently someone sent me this post on Instagram that said, ‘I hope the most beautiful things find their way to you, and when they do, I hope you never forget that you’re worthy of every single one of them.’ I definitely feel very privileged to be the person someone thinks about when they read something like that.”

Overall, Chang is thankful for the ways that cross country has driven her to success.

“It’s this huge exercise in, obviously, endurance, but also persistence and perseverance of a long term goal. I also am just very grateful for the way cross country’s challenged me because it forces you to be very comfortable with the uncomfortable. I’m very grateful that I was pushed in certain ways because I think I’m so much better for it.”

This article is part of a larger collection of stories covering the girls cross country seniors. Check out the other seniors in the sports section on our website.