Anastasia Chiodo '15 Recruiting Profile

When I was young, I would chase passing cars down my street for fun. My parents would watch and laugh as I would would try to race them day after day. I grew up playing soccer, but discovered there was a sport made purely for racing once I reached middle school. I ran in a few meets by the instruction of my PE teachers, and joined cross country my freshman year of high school. My father was battling cancer at the time, and passed away a month into the start of the school year. My academic performance dropped, but the team offered support in every way they could. Eventually, I switched from cross country to track and couldn't have been more thrilled to finally be racing for real in such a supportive environment and to have found somewhere I felt like I belonged. They placed me on varsity right away and found passion within the 4x1, which to this day is still my favorite event.

Since freshman year, I've gotten my grades back on track and have been working harder to improve my times in track. Running track has helped to not only start to spark confidence, but to meet people I've begun to see as family. I hope the younger kids can look up to me as I looked up to my teammates who helped me so much, and to be able to continue running and improving in the environment I grew to love and see as home.