Most decorated student athlete Anna Shields runs toward professional dreams

The Point
Summer 2019

Four years ago, Point Park University 2019 graduate and 2019 NAIA Women's Indoor Track National Athlete of the Year Anna Shields was working at a small community bank in her home town of Torrington, Connecticut.

The former high school track star had signed a letter of intent to attend University of North Carolina, but in her senior year, her running performance began to fall off and the offer was rescinded.  “I wasn’t paying enough attention to nutrition and health and it took a toll.  I figured maybe it just wasn’t meant to be,” said Shields.

Instead of a Division I school, Shields enrolled at nearby Central Connecticut State. She continued to run but her times were not what she wanted and so she dropped out and took a job as a banker teller instead.  As she said in a recent interview with Citius, a national magazine for runners, “Sometimes I would have dreams about running, of winning a race again. I would wake up and feel sad because I thought it wasn’t possible.”

Running to the top

It was an employee step-challenge got her re-thinking her decision to quit running. “The prize was a week of free groceries so I thought, why not try?” Naturally competitive, Shields started incorporating running into her step-challenge training, starting with easy jogging and working her way up to six-mile runs.  

“It was so much fun, I had forgotten why I liked running so much,” she said.  Thinking maybe her running days were not over, Shields reached out to her former high school track coach who encouraged her to apply to an NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) school where she could continue to compete with no age limitations. That suggestion brought Shields to Point Park, the closest NAIA school to her home state of Connecticut. 

Since enrolling in Point Park in the fall of 2016, Shields has become the first national champion in any sport at the University. For the fifth time in her career, Shields was named NAIA National Athlete of the Year by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association and she was voted the 2019 NAIA Women's Indoor Track National Athlete of the Year by the USTFCCCA. This past spring, Shields placed fifth at the USA Track & Field 1 Mile Road Championship in Des Moines, Iowa, running against the best milers in the country.

Exceptional leader 

“Anna’s not just an exceptional athlete. She’s has been the best kind of team leader – quiet and encouraging at the same time - and her presence on the track team has helped elevate the performance of her teammates,” said Kevin Taylor, associate athletic director. “There has never been a Pioneer like her. I think she’ll be remembered for many years to come for how she’s raised the bar for what’s possible to be a student-athlete at Point Park.”

The Don Kelly Outstanding Student-Athlete Award was established in 2014 and has been presented annually to student-athletes – one male and one female -- who display outstanding leadership and embody the values, sprit and tradition of being a model student-athlete at Point Park. Deserving candidates are outstanding representatives of the school, the department and their teams in the classroom, in the community and on the field of play.

Starting in 2020, the female recipient of this award will receive the Anna Shields Outstanding Female Student-Athlete Award, to honor Point Park’s most decorated student-athlete in school history. The name change was announced when Shields was the female honoree for the 2018-19 school year. The male award will remain named for Don Kelly, the Point Park baseball alumnus who played many years in Major League Baseball.

Now 28, Shields’ biggest dream may be qualifying for the 2020 U.S. Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon. “I never would have imagined that I’d have an opportunity to compete at this level at my age, but with the support of the Point Park athletic department, teammates, family and friends, I feel like there’s no limit to what I can do,” said Shields, who received her bachelor’s degree in English in April 2019.

“I’m grateful for every opportunity that comes my way.”

Text by Barbara Vilanova
Photo courtesy of NAIA
The Point is the magazine of Point Park University