Soccer, Track & Field
Favorite athlete: Mary Cain
Favorite team: USWNT
Favorite memory competing in sports: Winning the 4x400 under the lights at the Trojan Track Classic in 2014. I anchored the race, and I just remember hearing the crowd on their feet and we won by .01.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that hash happened while competing in sports: Peeing myself while racing the mile during indoor track last year.
Music on iPod: Little bit of everything!
Future plans: Attend Bucknell University
Words to live by: “What you get out of life is what you put in it.”
One goal before turning 30: Being happy and having a secure job.
One thing people don’t know about me: I’m superstitious.
By GORDON GLANTZ
Ask Anna Chiodo Ortiz about her success as a multi-sport athlete, and she will readily point to a support system that includes coaches, mentors, teammates, friends, family and even competitors that had served as measuring sticks.
But the Univest Female Athlete of the Week also knows that she is alone with her own thoughts and expectations once the gun sounds for a race during the winter or spring track seasons or for a soccer match come fall.
She doesn’t view those in other colors as the mortal enemy, but as part of the challenge she has created for herself.
“I’m pretty nice to my opponents,” she explained. “I’ll go up and shake their hands, and I’ll congratulate people after a race. Yes, I want to win, but I have to focus on my own race.”
Keeping it in perspective, when you have exceeded expectations while others finished ahead of you, requires a certain level of wisdom and maturity.
It is about putting one foot in front of the other, doing better than the time before and reaching new heights.
“I learned over the years to set goals,” she explained. “Whenever there's something I want, I'll do anything I can to get it.
“I try to just work as hard as I can, especially with things I'm so passionate about.”
Next Stop
An overriding goal for Chiodo Ortiz was being a collegiate athlete, and it became apparent as far back as her sophomore season that track was going to punch her ticket to a campus that also offered strong academics.
“My junior year, I started getting letters from schools,” she said, adding that she focused on the “better academic schools,” which meant she “did a lot of it on my own.”
A member of the National Honor Society and a Suburban One League Scholar Athlete honoree, Chiodo Ortiz’s first visit was to Bucknell, and it seemed to have all she was looking for, up to and including genuine future teammates and her older brother, Chris, already on campus.
“The girls (on the track team) were very welcoming, and my brother goes there, too,” she said. “But I still wanted to keep my options open.”
The bar was set high for the other finalists on her list – Colgate and Holy Cross – to match, and neither made the same impression.
Next stop on the Anna Chiodo Ortiz Express: Lewisburg, Pa.
“It is a rigorous academic school,” she said. “I actually think (running) track is going to help. They are disciplined, and the girls are very responsible about not going out on weeknights. They know what comes first.”
Chiodo Ortiz will officially go in as an undecided, in terms of a major, but she is intrigued with psychology and becoming a sports psychologist.
The interest lies in personal experience with “the mentality of goals and visualization” and overcoming “mental blocks and fears” as days of the meet approach.
“I think all sports – especially track -- include a very important mental aspect, “said Chiodo Oritz. “I usually get pretty nervous before a game or a sport, which is good because nerves show that you care and show that you're focused.
“However, if you have too many nerves, that can affect how you perform because you get all tensed up. So, I've learned to channel my nerves in a positive way and definitely stay a lot calmer than I used to. I try to focus on what I need to do in a game or race, and just have fun with it. I also used to tense up immensely in my races which would take a lot more energy out of me, so now I think I'm better at staying relaxed while I run and I can focus on my form.”
In a way, as a team leader – she is a captain on the indoor and outdoor teams, as well as a two-year captain of the soccer team – Chiodo Ortiz has gained some experience with a possible career.
“I’ve started helping with younger athletes, in terms of their nerves,” she said.
Not Just for Kicks
Track may have emerged as Chiodo Ortiz’s main sport, in terms of college options, but she approached soccer with the same spirit and verve.
“The best thing I can say about her four years with me is that even though Anna’s first sport is not soccer, she never let me know it,” said Trojans’ girls soccer coach Shannon Creamer-Franke. “She is a diehard player that should not be overlooked, on or off the pitch. She will be missed.”
Describing Chiodo Ortiz as a “great role model for her fellow teammates,” Creamer-Franke added that her two-year captain will “leave behind a stellar legacy.”
This would explain why Chiodo Ortiz was the heart and soul of a team that was always in the hunt but never advanced past the first round of district play.
An All-League center back who recorded 40 defensive tackles in 17 games, she won the 2014 Coach’s Award.
“Ever since my freshman year, soccer is something I always loved,” said Chiodo Ortiz, who somehow finds time to be active in the Wissahickon Fan Nation that supports the football and basketball teams and was voted in by her peers as a member of the Homecoming Court. “I love to win, and I love my team.
“Part of me really wishes I could continue with it, but I know I can’t”
Vison to Reality
On March 1 – in State College – all of Chiodo Ortiz’s goals and visualizations of meeting her own challenges, culminated at the state indoor meet when she set a personal and school record in the 800 meters.
For all her superstitions – from her lucky pony tail holders to always eating a peanut butter and fluff sandwich on race day – it all came down to hard work.
Chiodo Ortiz credits Cardwell Wootten -- a CB East assistant coach with whom she trains privately as much as 3-4 times per week at his Sports Extra facility in Hatfield, for helping to become a true force this winter.
“Knock on wood, during the indoor season, I felt really strong,” she said. “I felt stronger and more confident.
“I became a member of the Sports Extra Inc. family in the fall. Coach Wootten works with tons of athletes to help them improve and achieve their goals. We work on core, strength (lifting), speed endurance, speed capacity, form -- you name it, he does it. I have learned so much from him.
“He isn't afraid to push his athletes and he knows what it takes in order to excel. After my junior season when I didn't improve in the 800, I knew I needed to do something to change my training to get stronger and faster, so I contacted him, since I know athletes that train with him do really well. This indoor season, I felt a lot stronger and I was smarter with my races and I think my 2:16.22 800 PR (personal record) at states had a lot do to with Sports Extra.”
And it wasn’t all just physical training, as Wootten helped with the all-important mental approach – the sports psychology.
“Coach Wootten not only helps me with the sport physically, but he helps me with it mentally,” she was quick to add. “I am very hard on myself, and he's very good at giving me perspective and the way to look at each workout. He motivates me to be the best athlete I want to be, and I just learn so much from him.”
But before Wootten came into the picture, there were the Wissahickon coaches who took an all-around athlete whose early competitive background included gymnastics (which actually led to a freshman stint as a diver on the swim team) and placed her – literally and figuratively – onto the right path.
“Heidi Butt and Justin Hill, my outdoor coaches, obviously paved the way for my love of running,” she said. “As a freshman they showed great belief in me and supported me and pushed me to be better. Not only do they encourage me to be a better athlete, but they encouraged me to be a better person as well. They've taught me a bunch about track, leadership, and life. They truly want the best for me.
“As for indoor (track), Holly Stagliano really pushes me with hard workouts and it feels as though she wants me to succeed just as much as I want to succeed. She has believed in me every step of the way and her energy is always so great to be around especially before a race. Michael Ford is the sprinting coach for indoor, and just like Coach Holly, he is very supportive and he really has a passion for running, which is the best kind of person to be around when it comes to track.”
Here Comes the Sun
After the winter breakthrough, all signs point to a stellar final season in the sunlight for Chiodo Ortiz and the Trojans.
“Anna is already focused on her goals for the outdoor season,” said Butt. “Coming off of her fabulous 2:16 indoor 800 meter race at Indoor States, she is ready to achieve some new personal and relay PRs.”
Chiodo Ortiz’s outdoor time in the 800 (2:19.46) is currently seventh all-time at the school. She has been on three district-qualifying relay teams since her freshman year, including the 1600 meter relay team (including outgoing seniors Mel Fry and Liz Carney and returning junior Lotte Black) that placed seventh in the state last year.
“Last Spring season ended on a high note with the seventh-place finish of the 1600 relay team at the PIAA Championships, during which she ran a PR 400 split of 58.8 in the finals,” said Butt. “Anna is poised to build on her 800 meter success from indoor and will play an integral part in the qualifying of all three of our relays for Districts. Although her strength lies in the 400 and 800, she is still our fastest leg of the 4x100! As long as she can avoid injury, Anna has the talent, focus, drive, and generosity to have a fantastic senior season.
“I am lucky to have her on our team personally and our program benefits from her character, leadership, and talents.”
Home Grown
There is no truth to the rumor that the Chiodo Ortiz family dog, Cali, won the Westminster Dog Show or the cat, Gracie, is the reigning East Coast purring champion.
The high-achievers are the children of Ann and Jorge.
Chiodo Ortiz is not even the only three-sport athlete in her family in Wissahickon’s senior class. Alex, her twin brother, also plays soccer in the fall while he wrestles in the winter and plays lacrosse in the spring. Explaining that her brother is “really smart,” she says he will put aside sports in college to likely be a pre-med major at a school to be determined.
“He’s going to go somewhere good,” said Chido Ortiz, who is equally proud of her 12-year-old sister, Sophia, who is an “intense gymnast.”
Brother Chris, already at Bucknell, set the standard as a stellar swimmer at Wissahickon who gave up the sport to focus more on academics after his freshman year in Lewisburg.
Chiodo Ortiz believes they have handled her with great care, providing guidance and encouragement – but also a timely push – as needed.
“My parents have always been really supportive of me,” she said. “Ultimately, they want the best for me and want what is going to make me happy. I obviously wouldn't be where I am today without them. I know no matter what happens with a race or game, they'll still love me. The best moment is when my mom was watching my 800 at indoor states this year from home on the computer, and when she saw I ran such a big PR, she started to cry. She recorded my race off her phone and you can hear her start to cry after I ran my time. That right there shows how much my parents care for me and care for my success. They know how hard I work and they believe in me every step of the way. They push me to be the best person I can be.”
And a better person than Anna Chiodo Ortiz, the girl who always shakes the hand of the opposition and cares for her teammates, may be hard to find.
