By Blake Colston
Sports Editor
Lily Scheck doesn’t like to lose.
And Piedmont’s star cross country runner doesn’t limit her competitiveness to the course. Scheck’s desire to be the best extends to cards, board games and beyond.
“In UNO, I’m always on edge thinking what the next move might be,” she said.
It’s a trait that has served her well as a cross country runner. Scheck already holds the school record time in the 5K and was fourth at the state meet and she’s only a sophomore.
“She’s probably as good a runner as I’ve had,” PHS head coach Kelly Beck said, “by the time she leaves, she’ll be the best for sure.”
Scheck has an uncanny ability to keep the right pace during a meet. She can coast when the time is right and accelerate when she needs to make up ground.
“If there is somebody out there in front of her, she is going to go after her. That’s a huge gene for a racer to have,” Beck said. “Internally, she has what it takes.”
Scheck’s talent was always there, Beck said. When her natural gifts meshed with her grit, Scheck took her running to another level.
But that was far from a certainty. Scheck played soccer growing up and, as a 10-year-old, cried the first time her mom convinced her to run in a 5K.
“I hated it so much,” she said.
In seventh grade, Scheck planned to run track and play soccer, until her parents Lauren and Curt persuaded her to try cross country instead. Once again, it wasn’t what she expected.
“I didn’t know I’d be running six miles everyday,” she said.
She stuck with it, though, and in 2019 ran in a 5K with her mom in Bristow. Scheck ran hard and finished in about 25 minutes. She was hooked.
“That wasn’t (a) great (time) looking back at it now, but it made me think maybe it was something I could do,” she said.
After that, it was a steady climb toward her freshman season when she made the varsity lineup. She ran well early in the year, but couldn’t break the 20-minute mark until early October at the Chile Pepper Festival in Arkansas. She shattered not only her own personal record, but Piedmont’s school record with a time of 19:30, 35 seconds faster than her previous best.
“When I was crossing the finish line I jumped up, I was so excited,” she said. “There was a lot of tough competition there and I think it tested me and pushed me to do what my body could really do.”
Beck said that was the turning point for Scheck.
“She got more aggressive,” he said. “Now, I don’t think she ever feels like she isn’t good enough (to win).”
Scheck has lofty goals this season. Namely, winning a state championship. She said she’s about seven seconds off the time of 2021 state champion Gweneth Meyers of Tulsa Bishop Kelley.
“That’s a goal that I hope I can achieve. As long as I’m putting in the effort, that’s the best I can do,” she said.
Piedmont opens its 2022 season Aug. 20 at Deer Creek.
