San Lorenzo Valley's Anna Maxwell had to make sacrifices in order to concentrate on distance running, and it is certainly paying off.
Photo by Craig Morley
It was an excruciating decision to make as a freshman, but
Anna Maxwell knew that to run among the nation’s elite it was a sacrifice she had to make.
She gave up competitive soccer, and largely all the deep friendships she made growing up around the sport. And equally tough, she said goodbye to the sport of equestrian, along with it her horse and longtime childhood companion, Lolly Pop.
"It was sad for sure," she said. "Both were a big parts of my life. But frankly I couldn’t do it all."
It has all paid off for Maxwell, a 17-year-old rising senior at
San Lorenzo Valley (Felton, Calif.), who has turned into one of the nation’s top middle and long distance runners.
See the special Anna Maxwell photo galleryShe won the California state 1,600 meter run — there’s a who's who list of names in the track world who have won that race — and recorded the nation’s sixth best time in the event two weeks earlier. Maxwell also recorded the country’s fifth best 3,200 time and the 26th 800.
After finishing third and eighth in state cross country meets the previous two seasons, an allergic reaction to wheat and rice caused breakdowns on the course for Maxwell in the fall of 2012. It was a painful and confusing time.
But once diagnosed and relegated to a gluten-free diet, Maxwell regained her stride and strength, leading to one of the top junior middle- and long-distance running seasons in the country.
Combine that with her scholarly ways — she’s received only one "B" in high school, took five AP classes as a junior and had a 4.27 grade point average — and Maxwell is indeed one of the most versatile student-athletes in the country.
As far as what sport she prefers, Maxwell sums it up this way: "When it’s the fall and cross country season I love it the most. When it’s track season, I love it the most. I just love it all."
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