Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 113, December 2018 | Page 11

ROAD RUNNING
Annie and the van Graan sisters lead the way in the USA
Scholarship runner:
Nadeel Wildschutt
Nadeel and his brother Adrian started
at Coastal Carolina University in August
2017, and he plans to graduate in 2021
with a Masters Degree in Business
Management. In his first year he was
SunBelt Conference Champion, placed
fourth at Regional Champs and won
All American honours at Nationals. He
has won numerous athlete of the year
accolades over the last two years.
A
quick glance at Annie Bothma’s social media pages shows that she is
clearly enjoying her running at the moment. There are posts about loving
the long training runs and testing her limits, as well as pics of her winning
races. In terms of the latter, on 9 August she won the Totalsports Women’s 10km
in Cape Town with a 35:20 effort, followed by second place in the OUTsurance
94.5KFM Gun Run Half Marathon on 14 October with a PB 1:15:46 finish.
Then on 10 November she went still faster at the Winelands Half Marathon in
Stellenbosch, setting a new PB of 1:15:13 and shattering the course record by
almost four minutes!
This success for the 22-years-old comes hot on the heels of her return from
studying Sport Science for three years in the USA, on a full athletic scholarship,
and she asserts that her time in the States, competing in NCAA collegiate-
level track and field as well as cross country, is the reason for her current form.
“Overall, I think the USA made me stronger and tougher. I trained with guys over
there, which made a big difference in my running, because they pushed me a
lot. Then again, I pushed them, too, and it was nice to have people to train with.
That changed me positively,” she says.
Getting Recruited
Annie is just one of a number of talented South African runners to study in the
USA in recent years. Olympians Dominique Efurd-Scott and Christine Kalmer are
both US College graduates, while the last few seasons have seen sisters Kyla
and Aynslee van Graan, brothers Nadeel and Riaan Wildschutt, Letitia Saayman
and Leanda Du Bruyn, to name just a few, lining up for various American
universities. (Usually they compete in three seasons per year, in outdoor track,
indoor track and cross country, with strict NCAA rules allowing each athlete a
maximum of four seasons in each discipline. The universities compete in either
the East or West conferences, with the top 48 athletes from each conference
then qualifying for Regionals, where the top 12 then qualify for Nationals.)
The majority of these South Africans were actually recruited by US coaches
who keep an eye on South African results, and in Annie’s case, she was initially
contacted by three universities. “I received scholarship offers from Boise, North
Kentucky and Duke, and I chose Boise for its facilities and the coaches. Then
after the 2015 World Cross Country Champs I also received an offer from Penn
State, but I had already accepted Boise. It was still summer when I got to
Boise and I enjoyed it, but I really
struggled with winter – the minus
temperatures every day are hard for
a South African!”
“However, the worst part of my time
there was that I was hit by a truck a
month after arriving and suffered a
back injury, so I couldn’t compete
for that whole year. I became totally
isolated from the team and ended
up being medically disqualified
by the university, because they
didn’t think I would run again,
and didn’t want to risk any legal
issues by letting me continue to
try. They offered to let me keep my
scholarship and continue studying
there, but I believed I would run
again, so I transferred to Coastal
MA: What made you choose that particular
university?
I had a few options, but CCU suited me
best. They have some of the best coaches
in their respective disciplines and an athletic
programme that I believe can take me to the
next level in my running career.
MA: Did you find it hard to acclimatise to your new environment?
It was quite challenging and required me to be very flexible, but my brother and
fellow South Africans were very supportive and helpful. Academically speaking,
the standards are also quite challenging, but you get used to the new learning
structure and environment. From an athletic standpoint, both cross country and
track and field are very competitive. The coaching staff suits me perfectly and
have already made a massive impact on my performance the past year.
MA: What is it like competing against top runners from around the world?
The NCAA is extremely competitive, it expose a person to word class athletes.
For example, I was fortunate to compete against the Canadian star Justyn
Knight, who was a finalist at the 2017 World Champs in the 5000m. NCAA
enables you to see the bigger picture and broaden your mindset.
MA: Any advice for other athletes in SA who hope to go study in the USA?
Work hard, train hard and
be determined in your
academics, and everything
else will follow. Once you
have good running times,
agents and recruiters will
approach you. Lastly, if your
athletics are really important
to you, be sure you know
who you signing with.
Carolina, to join coach Zola Pieterse and all the South Africans there. It was so nice to
speak my own language again, and thanks to solid conditioning and strengthening, I
got over my back issue to get running again, hence my decision to eventually go into
personal training.”
Success at Last
Annie went on to win four Conference titles (one in the 10,000m, two in the indoor
5000m, and one in cross country), and two Regional titles (10,000m and cross country).
Annie made the top 20 at Nationals, in spite of falling ill at the champs, and thus also
earned prestigious All American status. “When I won the Regional 10,000m, I was
up against girls who had run 31 minutes for 10km, so that title was very special, but I
actually hate running track, to be honest. I come from a road running background, and
the hardest part was not being able to race on road due to my commitments in track
and cross country. They take track and field seriously over there, and both my schools
were Division1 schools, so the competition was very high.”
When asked if she has any advice for other young athletes in SA who hope to also
go study and run in the USA, Annie says they need to be careful about their choices,
but should go for it. “The grass is not always greener on the other side, and it is not
always as glamorous as it seems – you need to be ready to work exceptionally hard
and perform in tough conditions – but you will learn a lot from the experience, get a
lot stronger, and meet amazing people that will make the journey worthwhile.”
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