MUSKEGO, Wis. — It did not take first-year Muskego girls basketball coach Katie Golomski long to realize she had a vocal leader in her starting lineup. When Sara Jochims broke the pregame huddle, her voice echoed throughout the gym.

“Game 1 is all it took,” Golomski said. “She was cheering on her teammates that went in for her, having the bench be hyped up and trying to get them as much energy as possible.”

Golomski is not the only Muskego coach who has witnessed Sara’s relentless positivity. After a new cross country teammate new to the sport ran her best race last season, she got a post-race text from Sara.

“She told her how proud of her she was, and that she said ‘You keep working hard, you’re going to always see good things come to you,’” Muskego cross country coach Katrina Beeck said. “And I thought, ‘What an awesome young adult this is.’”

Sara’s team-first mindset has helped lead Muskego teams to three state championships. Her cross country teams went back-to-back in 2018 and 2019, and the soccer team won it all in 2019.

Jochims says in four years as a varsity student-athlete, she has learned what goes into a championship culture.

“It’s just being able to encourage each other and lift each other up,” she said. “If someone doesn’t have a good day, it doesn’t matter. You keep encouraging each other because if you don’t have a good day, somebody else will have a good day.”

Jochims is victorious outside of athletics, too. With Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), Sara earned first-place honors in her division of last year’s regional.

“[She’s] kind of a role model for a lot of students,” said Stephanie Jansen, the Muskego FBLA advisor. “A little quiet in nature, but fierce in what she gets involved with, and she doesn’t let anything hold her back.”

Earlier this month, Jochims signed her National Letter of intent to run track and cross country at UW-Milwaukee. She follows a similar path to her older sister Kate, her role model who is also a Division 1 runner at nearby Marquette.

“Even if we don’t run right next to each other, we’re still running with each other the whole way and supporting each other the whole way,” Sara said.

When Jochims graduates this spring, she will have varsity letters in four sports, plus memberships in National Honors Societies and honor societies in business, Spanish and math, and a 4.2 grade point average. Somehow, she even finds time to appreciate her own journey.

“It’s the sense of support from family and friends but also my willingness to want to exceed myself.”