Audrey McAnally looks to lead the Trinity Prep girls cross country team | Observer Preps

As an athlete, having a set routine before a competition is a matter of great importance.

In the case of Trinity Prep cross-country athlete Audrey McAnally, it’s a simple list of three things: lots of stretching, a nice bath and drinking as much water as she possibly can.

That mindset of discipline is something that goes from the early prep stages to the finish line, McAnally said.

“I just really calm myself down and do my best on race day,” McAnally said. “I try to be positive, because that’s a huge problem during running — wanting to stop, saying, ‘Oh I cant hold this pace,’ but I just try to stay positive in my head and tell myself that I can do this.”

It’s a process that has worked out perfectly for the 16-year old-junior, who has helped lead the Saints to a strong start to the new season with back-to-back first-places finishes at the Winter Springs Invitational and Astronaut Invitational.

McAnally alone finished in fourth place at the Winter Springs Invitational with a time of 19:39.7, before following that race up with another fourth-place finish (19:50.4) at the Astronaut Invitational. 

Along with the continued success, McAnally took on a new role — team captain on a team of mostly underclassmen.

Although she has really stepped into the role this year as one of the few upperclassmen, it’s actually one she unknowingly started last season, head coach Sara Dowdy said.

“Last year, she had a killer season, and there was another girl on the team — still with her now — Alaina (Pisello), and the two of them raced together every race and pushed each other, so that was very fun to watch,” Dowdy said. “She’s still running strong and is leading the team in every way possible.”

Saying her running season last year was killer actually may be an understatement. McAnally broke multiple school records in different events. In the 4x800 relay at the Brian Jaeger Elite Classic — alongside teammates Lucy Albright, Pisello and Taitem Turbfill — McAnally helped break a school record with a finish time of 9:49.07.

Then, about two weeks later at the Pepsi Florida Relays March 31, McAnally broke her own school record in the 1,600 meters with a time of 5:03.23 — she finished in ninth place. She finished the year with three first-place finishes and an eighth-place finish at the FHSAA 2A state championship — which is one she enjoys.

“That’s been known to be a fast course — it does have one big hill in it, but overall, it’s pretty fast,” McAnally said. “That’s probably my favorite, because it’s really reliable — you know how you can PR (personal record) on that race and that you can run pretty fast, and there is always good competition.”

Although things have been going great the past few seasons — with accolades piling up — it wasn’t always easy.

After incredibly successful early seasons in middle school at Trinity Prep — where she won every race she ran in sixth grade — McAnally suffered a stress fracture in her foot during a long run that derailed her eighth-grade year.

Her doctor originally thought it was tendinitis, so he told her to keep running — which ultimately made it worse and forced McAnally out of running for eight months.

“It was really difficult, (because) I didn’t train much when I was injured — I didn’t have a pool or a gym membership and so I didn’t really know what to do,” McAnally said. “I lost a lot of my muscle, so coming back was really, really difficult. But after running for a couple of months, I got my strength back.”

The tribulations, unfortunately, didn’t stop there.

“I lost a lot of my muscle, so coming back was really, really difficult. But after running for a couple of months, I got my strength back.” 

- Audrey McAnally

Although she had regained some strength, there was something still off when she returned to run her ninth-grade year.

At the end of her freshman year, McAnally learned she was anemic and dealing with low ferritin levels. With that realization made, she was able to start medication to address the diagnosis.

Dowdy remembers it being a difficult time for McAnally but said there was one positive thing that came from the ordeal.

“I really think it helped humble Audrey, and it taught her how to be a teammate, because when she was younger and winning, she was all by herself,” Dowdy said. “But then that freshman year, she really learned how to be a leader — even as just a ninth-grader supporting the other teammates — watching them run the times she use to run and wasn’t doing.”

Since those early days, McAnally has put her best foot forward and now is breaking records with her own running while also helping to inspire the teammates she loves.

“The team here is amazing — we are all so friendly with each other and competitive, but it’s still all about being one team,” McAnally said. “They’re such sweet girls, and I’m just really lucky to be here.”