By Jeff Vorva

York runner Anna McGrail had two big goals heading into the 2023 cross country season.
She wanted to be one of the top seven runners on the team. And she wanted the Dukes to win the Class 3A state championship.

She and her team accomplished both of those goals and as a bonus, she will continue her academic and athletic career at University of Texas.

“I never really knew that I was going to run in college,” McGrail said. “I always knew I wanted to go to a big school with strong academics as I want to major in engineering. That was a big thing for me. I was never going to go to a school just to run there.”

After a successful cross country season, she e-mailed the coaches of some of the schools she originally applied to, including Texas, to see if she could join their cross country and track teams.

“Some got back to me, and some didn’t,” McGrail said.

Texas was one of the schools that didn’t get back to her right away. But in February, when the admissions decisions came out and she was accepted to Texas, things changed.

“I actually got into Texas, and I wasn’t expecting that at all. It was one of my biggest reach schools – I’m still not really sure how they let me in,” McGrail joked. “I got in touch with the coach, and they invited me for a visit.”
McGrail may have found her Holy Grail college choice.
“I fell in love with the campus, and they have such a good program for my major,” McGrail said. “It’s kind of just perfect.”

Few could see this coming. She admits her first three years of cross country and track at York were nothing special. But this year, she exploded by finishing 21st overall in the Illinois High School Association state meet and was fourth on her team behind Katherine Klimek, Margaret Owens and Machaela Quinn and the Dukes won the state title with 77 points followed by Downers Grove North’s 92.

In the spring, she finished sixth in the state in the 3200-meter event with a time of 10 minutes, 54.20 seconds.

Her rise from junior to senior year may have caught some people off guard, but Dukes coach Lauren DeAngelis saw it coming.

“Last summer, she just made a conscious decision that this is what she wanted to do,” DeAngelis said of McGrail. “She wanted to put everything into it. It has shown greatly. She gave up going to lake houses in the summer and taking different trips to practice. I told her that I knew of the things that she was giving up to be here for the team. She made sure she was getting her training in. She improved so much from junior to senior year.”

And it served as a model for others on the team.

“She is a great inspiration to the other runners,” DeAngelis said. “It shows what happens when you put 100% dedication in and sacrifice other things to do something that you put your mind to. She had goals. She set those goals. And she surpassed them.”

McGrail said her dedication – and the dedication of her teammates – went beyond making summer sacrifices.

“I put my mind and my heart into the goal and that it could be done for me to be on that seven and for us to win state,” she said. “It definitely took a lot of dedication to make sure I was taking my iron supplements and eating right and sleeping right. Also the mental part of the sport – making sure I was confident in every race and confident in my abilities. I knew we put in all of the skill training. To go into racing and not have it pay off is just really disappointing. Buying into the fact that I was capable and we as a team could do it definitely was something that our whole team overcame. We knew every meet that we were strong enough to win it.”

The cross country state title is something she won’t forget.

“It was such a fun team to be a part of,” McGrail said. “For every single race, we would never repeat in the same order. I thought that was so interesting. It was a really good way to end my senior year. I was super happy with that.” ■

York’s Anna McGrail celebrated a banner senior year with a college commitment to Texas. Photo courtesy of York High School

York’s Anna McGrail is heading to Texas for academics and as a member of the cross country and track teams. Photo courtesy of York High School