By Kevin Lonnquist
NTX Sports Columnist
Paradise’s girls’ cross country team is chasing a return to greatness. To get there, freshman Taryn Stoltz is going to be chasing sophomore teammate Allie McCormick. Or it could be vice versa.
The less distance between the two on the course, the better it is for Paradise to qualify a full team for the Class 3A state meet on Oct. 31 in Round Rock.
The postseason schedule is nearing for this program. Through the first six meets of the regular season, McCormick and Stoltz have set the pace. If they haven’t finished in the top two spots, they’ve finished in the Top 10.
“They push each other,” head coach Karin Essig said. “It’s something where they have to do it and just find a way to figure it out. They’ve been consistent in their mindsets and how to track each other on the course.’’
Pre-Covid, Paradise was a steady participant at the state meet at Old Settler’s Park in Round Rock. This program sent teams to the Class 2A (recognized now as 3A) state meet in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2004 and 2007. And if this program wasn’t going to state, it sent plenty of teams to regionals.
The dry spell has been a little long for that next trip to Central Texas. However, Essig is hopeful McCormick and Stoltz can be a major reason why that ends. McCormick already knows the feeling. She competed at the 3A state meet last year and ran 12:38 with a Top 40 finish.
“They’ve been running in the low 12s (minutes on a two-mile course) and no higher than 12:15. You have to get to the low 12s to get to state,’’ said Essig, who is in her eighth season. “Their training has been so important. But Taryn and Allie are total opposites on the course. One starts fast and the other really kicks it in at the end. They just know how to pace themselves.’’
Cross country has never been a sport where the athlete can “turn it off” and come back later to “turn it on”. It’s a want-to sport. Either the runner wants to do it or he or she does not.
The want to requires logging hundreds of miles for the months leading up to the season. It means logging those miles even on days when the mind is unwilling. It means logging those miles well before dawn breaks.
With Essig’s and many other lower classification programs, there’s other considerations building a team and navigating it through a season. Coaches have to share their athletes. In the fall, cross country runs concurrently with volleyball. Essig splits three runners with Volleyball.
Plus, scheduling is key. Paradise can’t compete in a meet on a volleyball game night. If volleyball is playing on Friday, cross country is running on Thursday.
“Our competitiveness is a battle every day in practice,’’ Essig said. “You have to have a lot of talent. But there’s the work nobody sees. That’s how they build the speed and endurance.’’
The District 10-3A meet is Oct. 9 at Boyd. Should this team claim one of the top spots, then it will advance to the Region II meet on Oct. 20 at the Harold Patterson Sports Complex in Arlington. If this team finds its way into another top spot, then it competes on Halloween, a Friday.
For this team to accomplish that, McCormick and Stoltz must keep doing what they have been doing. However, a team qualifying for state is determined by how its No. 3-No. 7 runners perform. The closer those five run to McCormick and Stoltz, the better Paradise’s chances are. While dealing with some roster challenges, Essig likes how the other runners are progressing.
“You see it that it’s something they want to achieve,” Essig said. “What makes cross country awesome is the race inside the race from the beginning to the middle and to the end. It’s a gut check. But I like where we’re at.’’