By Cole Erquiaga & Marc Esquivel Posted February 15, 2012
Angie Herrera is a talented athlete at Lowry, whose success in sports (like that of her cousin, Fernando Herrera) has gotten her recognized as February’s athlete of the issue.
Herrera comes from a family of five, her parents are Maximilliano and Maria Elida Herrera. Angie is the middle child of her family, her older sister, Cristal, goes to UNR and her baby brother Emmanuel, who she loves dearly, does, well, baby things.
“I’ve been playing sports since I could walk,” said Herrera.
Angie was first introduced to sports at a very young age by her father, Max. Her first organized sports debuts were when she was in kindergarten and first-grade playing softball and soccer.
“I guess they put me in to see how I would do,” she said.
Herrera’s biggest role model is her older sister Cristal because she tries her hardest at everything she does.
“She [Cristal] has taught me to get to the top and be successful in life,” said Herrera.
Early on she decided that volleyball was her favorite sport and stuck with it all the way through her sports career, along with basketball and softball. Angie’s fondest memory involving sports as a kid was when she managed to hit her father’s truck not once, but twice with a softball, leaving a dent.
Herrera said, “I will always remember the memories of the overnighters with the teams, just messing around it’s always a great laugh.”
Ironically, her worst sports memory involves softball too. Last year, the varsity softball team was first in their division and had their minds set on the state tournament heading into their last regular-season game against Ely. White Pine managed to sweep the Lady Bucks, crushing their hopes of going to the playoffs.
“We went from being number one to out, it was heartbreaking,” said Herrera.
But even despite that bad memory, Angie’s high school career has been pretty impressive as far as the success she has had in the sports she has played. She has been awarded Academic All-State for several years now and she has also been awarded First Team All-State for volleyball. Herrera also helped the 2010 girl’s basketball team bring home a state title. If she had a chance to go back and do things differently, Angie says she wouldn’t.
“What happens, happens and it makes you stronger and makes you who you are today,” said Herrera.
Even with all this success in athletics, Herrera is deciding to go to college for academics. She plans on going to UNR to pursue a degree either in marketing or criminal justice.
With only one sports season left for Angie, her sports career is coming to an end. This is a sad fact for many of the athletes who participate in sports at Lowry, and while Angie is sad that it is coming to an end, and even though she claims a part of her will be missing from not playing sports, she is ready to start the next chapter of her life, after softball and graduation and all that fun that comes with senior year.
