The original reason Anna Coffin wanted to join the cross country team during her freshman year was to stay in shape for lacrosse. But thanks to her older sister’s influence, she ended up enjoying it more than she anticipated. Now, four years later, Coffin is gearing up to run cross country and indoor and outdoor track in college.
“It is great to see Anna follow in my footsteps in cross country and track,” says her sister, Maria, who runs for Providence College. “She has natural speed from playing lacrosse and has put in the work to build her endurance, which has really paid off for her.”
Coffin grew up very involved in sports. She swam for the Naval Academy Aquatic Club for five years, eventually quitting in eighth grade to play lacrosse more competitively. She’s played lacrosse since she was six years old, and competed on the elite club team CCLAX from eighth grade to the beginning of her senior year. She has been a starting varsity midfielder for Annapolis since her freshman year.
Running is a family affair for 17-year-old Coffin. Not only did she follow in her sister’s footsteps, but her mother, Laura, is the head coach of Annapolis’ cross country team.
“Anna has always been a strong athlete in many sports, but she has most recently worked on her aerobic endurance, which has led to significant progress in cross country,” Laura says. “It has been fun to watch her develop over the last four years, from the perspective of both a mom and a coach.”
Coffin has been a dominant runner for the cross country and track teams since she began. She was the county champion her sophomore, junior, and senior years in cross country. During her junior season of cross country, she finished second in state. In her junior year of indoor track, Coffin placed second in state in the 1600-meter run and third in state for the 3200-meter run, and earned the county and regional titles in the 1600.
“It definitely motivates me to keep trying with whatever I’m doing,” Coffin explains. “It feels good to have some incentive and something to work towards.”
Toward the end of her senior season of cross country, Coffin suffered an ankle sprain right before the State Championship, but she didn’t let that stop her. She pushed through and ran injured, taking third place overall, just seconds behind the first and second place winners.
“As her mom and coach, I am very proud of her for showing the grit and courage it takes to run a race even when injured,” Laura says. “She is a really tough kid.”
Being a top runner isn’t the only thing Coffin strives for success in. She is in the IB Program at Annapolis, and is determined to earn a 5.0 grade point average for her senior year. Coffin is also a member of the National Honor Society, is a Student Athletic Advisory Committee (SAAC) representative for Annapolis, and tutors second- and third-graders at Tyler Heights Elementary School.
“It’s part of the IB Program,” she explains. “We each have activity service hours, so one of the things we do is a group of us go on Wednesdays to tutor at Tyler Heights Elementary School, which is awesome. I really like it. It’s awesome because I always work with the same group of kids and they’re really funny.”
When it comes to running in college, Coffin has visited several schools, including the University of Maryland and Xavier University. While Coffin is still unsure of where she’s interested in attending, she’s eager to face the challenges that college running will bring her.
“I’m looking forward to being able to run and practice with girls who are at and above my level,” Coffin says. “I just hope that [I’ll have a team] and coach that will be able to make me better. I’m just trying to follow in my sister’s footsteps because she came from Annapolis High School, which is not really known for running and she did awesome, so I think it’s cool that I’ve been able to follow in her footsteps.”
