Sam Stortz could have easily gotten lost in the shadows of his siblings when he took to the cross country course as a freshman at Upper Dublin.
Although he never attained the lofty status of his brothers – both Tom and Jeff were the number one runners for their cross country squad, Sam Stortz, now a senior, has carved out a nice little niche for himself.
This year, he is the fifth runner on a team that has legitimate state title aspirations and boasts as its number one runner a track star who finished eighth at a national meet this summer – Mike Palmisano.
“Sam doesn’t really know how good he is because the team around him is much better than the teams his brother ran for,” Upper Dublin coach Paul Vandegrift said.
While Stortz will never attain the times of Palmisano, he has made remarkable strides – moving up from the seven spot to five this season.
“He’s worked extremely hard the last two years to get himself to be an important part of the team, to be competitive and to be part of the scoring varsity squad,” Vandegrift said. “It’s really just now as a senior that his chances are starting to come together.”
It doesn’t take long to recognize that Stortz has a pretty good perspective when it comes to following in the footsteps of a pair of legitimate cross country stars.
“It’s kind of strange just because they were so good,” he said. “When I was in middle school, I would go to their track meets and see them win races. I guess that’s what made me run in the first place.”
Stortz, who measures in at 5-7, does not boast the physical stature of either of his brothers.
“They both had this remarkable transition in size from ninth grade to 12th grade, and Sam never had this big burst of growth,” Vandegrift said.
“My mom still thinks I’m going to have my growth spurt, but I’m not counting on it anymore,” Stortz said. “I’ve kind of accepted – this is how tall I’m going to get, and I have to do the best with what I am right now.”
Stortz admits things didn’t come to him as quickly as he expected when he tried out for the team as a freshman.
“I wasn’t that good,” he said.
So Stortz did something about it. He began running more, and he grew with the program. When Stortz was a freshman, the Flying Cardinals were 26th in the district. Last year, the Flying Cardinals finished seventh in the state.
“That’s when I started to realize how good we were and how cool it was to be able to run on this team,” he said.
Stortz points to running in the state meet as a high point of his career.
“That was really cool,” he said. “The night before I wasn’t even sure I was going to run because it was between me and somebody else.
“When I found out I was going to run, it made it that much better.”
Stortz admits he didn’t exactly develop a love affair with cross country from the outset.
“The running itself I didn’t like that much, but just wanting to get better made me try really hard and try to be the best I could be,” he said. “When I started out and I would finish way back in every run, that didn’t make me love the sport, but seeing my times improve – that’s what made me love it.”
Stortz, like his teammates, has his sights set high, and he has worked hard to attain those goals.
“Especially this year since we have a shot at states – running has moved up on my list of priorities,” he said. “I had to make sure I was really ready for this season.
“This is what I have been working for.”
Stortz – the owner of a sharp wit – gained early notoriety on his cross country team when, as a sophomore, he tasted a peach for the first time.
“It’s even stranger because my mom (Nancy) and my sister (Lauren) are huge vegetable and fruit people, and there are a lot of fruits and vegetables I still haven’t tried.”
He might never have tried a peach if his cross country team hadn’t stopped at a peach orchard.
“I took a peach off the tree and said, ‘It’s all fuzzy – what’s wrong with this?’” he recalled. “I didn’t know that was what a peach looked like. Everyone was freaking out because I hadn’t had one.
“I haven’t had one since.”
These days, Stortz is better known to his coach and teammates for his success story.
“He has been one of the most exciting kids for me to watch get better,” Vandegrift said. “You can almost see it happen, and you know it’s going to happen because he cares so much about it and because he tries so hard and he has a decent amount of talent. You knew it was just a matter of time until he put it together.”
The Flying Cardinals are coming off a big weekend that saw them capture first place on the PIAA Foundation Cross Country Invitational. Stortz is hoping it’s a preview of things to come.
Stortz, a distance runner for the track team, points to last year’s track season as the low point in running career when – unbeknownst to him – his running suffered because of acne medication he was taking.
“I didn’t know it at the time, but it really, really made me slow,” he said. “My times were actually getting worse, and I didn’t know why. When I finally realized midway through track season, I was like, ‘Great. This just took me out of two seasons of track (winter and spring).’
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