Oct. 18, 2006
Each week USCsports.com will feature a different runner on the cross country team as they continue through the 2006 season. This week’s featured harrier is sophomore Anna Petrov, an early childhood education major from Albuquerque, N.M. Petrov has been a consistent top five runner for the Gamecocks the past two seasons and will travel with the team next week to the SEC Championships.
Everyone that gets to know Anna Petrov comes away calling her one of the nicest people that they have ever met. The sophomore from New Mexico did nothing to cause skepticism in that belief when she declared herself an early childhood education major, an education path that takes nice and patient people to make careers out of working with children.
“I want to teach 1st grade,” Petrov explained. “Early elementary and early childhood education really overlap here so I decided on early childhood because it focuses on second grade and down. I’ve wanted to be a teacher since middle school – teaching children’s literature and helping them learn how to read. I love kids. It’s a job that I can see myself working at and being excited about going to work everyday.”
Currently Petrov’s main excitement comes from being a member of the cross country team. A state champion and All-American at Eldorado High School in Albuquerque, Petrov’s kind demeanor is easily detectable when she explains why she left New Mexico, where she has lived her entire life, to run cross country and gain an education at the University of South Carolina.
“I had a good time on my visit,” Petrov said. “All the upperclassmen were sweet and welcoming. I really clicked the most with the upperclassmen here than anywhere else. I also liked the weather and the location was somewhere different than what I was used to.”
Her first season at Carolina proved to be constructive both academically and competitively. A McKissick scholar, Petrov excelled in the classroom and her efforts placed her on the SEC Academic Honor Roll as well as the University President’s List for student’s finishing a semester with a 4.0 GPA. In addition, the women’s track team was named the USTFCCCA’s All-Academic Team of the Year in 2006.
On the cross country level, Petrov consistently ran in the top five as a freshman, a feat that even surpassed her goals for her first year. As she progressed throughout the season, Petrov ran a season-best 19:05 at the Auburn Invitational and ran No. 4 at the SEC Championships.
“I really didn’t expect that much,” Petrov said. “My goal coming in my first year was to compete and just make the travel team. It was a nice surprise that I was contributing as much as I was and made the top five.”
Following a promising start, her spring season of track resulted in a redshirt season after Petrov began battling a case of shin splints around the cross country NCAA Regionals. She and Coach Stan Rosenthal decided to redshirt the track season rather than fight through the injury. The shin splints bothered Petrov up until summer training when she returned to Albuquerque for the school break.
“For the summer, I worked gradually up to (running) 45 miles a week,” Petrov said. “Because of the injury problems, Stan had me do a lot of crash training in the summer, and I spent a lot of time trail running. I started slow and didn’t get up to 40 miles until July.”
The mile high altitude in New Mexico also contributed to her training as she prepared for the sophomore season, but it takes a little while to get used to the differences in running in Columbia and Albuquerque.
“It’s really nice, but at first you`re a little winded,” Petrov said. “By the time you get back to South Carolina you feel good. Training at a high altitude, it’s almost like you have a little advantage when you get back here for the first race because you can breathe a little better than some of the other girls.”
Her case in point occurred in the opening meet of the season this year at the Gamecock Invitational. The Gamecocks won the event after placing seven runners in the top 20, including Petrov who ran her best time this season at 19:07. However, she did not compete again until the Great American Festival on Sept. 23 due to injuries, and she then missed the Auburn Invitational with a different ailment before returning at last week’s Furman Invitational.
“I got sick, but not as sick as some of the other girls,” Petrov said of her first absence from racing, which occurred at the same time as the absences of three other girls due to a flu bug. “I also had injury problems. I struggled with my calves early in the season, and we never came to a conclusion about what was really wrong with them. After the first race, I didn’t run for two weeks. When I came back from that, I got sick again and also had problems with blisters on my feet. I’ve pretty much been battling injuries since I’ve gotten here.”
The injuries have indeed slowed down Petrov’s season, but that still hasn’t stopped the optimism from the showing in her attitude after reflecting her current progress compared to her preseason goals.
“No, I haven`t raced like I expected,” Petrov said. “I hoped to be in the mid 18’s by now but I haven’t run that this year. However, right now I feel real good and have had good workouts the last few weeks. Things will get better.”
