It’s one thing for athletes to compete in two sports at once. Parkers Chapel’s Julie Battisto is coaching two fall sports this season, serving as the tennis and cross country coach.
Battisto took over the tennis position this season. Coaching distance runners has been a labor of love.
“Distance running has always been one of my favorite activities personally, so it was natural for me to take on the cross country team in 2022,” she said.
“Coaching two teams for Fall has been challenging but as always my runners are disciplined enough to put in work on their own while I’m out at a tennis match. At summer practice, I set the cross country training course around our campus so that I could keep an eye on my runners while my tennis players practiced. Once school started, I would hold tennis immediately after school, then meet my runners later in the evening.”
Battisto inherited a tennis program that had won five state titles in a row. The cross country program, however, she started from scratch.
“We have built a strong team with a positive culture that even kids who have never ran are excited to join,” she said. “I have 10 returning runners this year. My goal for them is to improve their PR time from last year. In cross country, I teach my runners they are competing only with themselves. They will have a personal win with every improvement. For my new runners, I want them to get past the initial feeling of there is no way they can survive this to the point they enjoy the challenge.
“I see good things in practice, I see kids who are excited to prove to themselves that their training has paid off.”
Senior Jordis Battisto returns to the boys’ team after an extensive training program in the offseason.
“He has been running since 7th grade. In the past 12 months he has trained hours a day for cross country and distance running for track,” said the coach. “This summer he often started the day at the tennis court, went to work all day, then trained at the track late into the night. I am ready to get the season started with these kids and watch them grow.
“I have a sophomore runner who is looking forward to our opener at OBU because he is excited to see his improvement from two years ago at the same race. On the girls side, I’m excited to see what junior high runner Ale Pichardo does this season. Last year she improved every run and placed in every race from mid-season forward. Kylie Lawson is a freshman running varsity this year. She was always putting in good times and placements last year. I’m excited to see her in the varsity group.”
Parkers Chapel will open its cross country season on Saturday at the Bob Gravett Invitational, hosted by Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia.