By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer

Annie Maynard was looking for something to do with her friends, so around the eighth grade, they all decided track was something that they should try out. The Oxford native had always enjoyed running, so she figured, why not.

“I enjoyed running and decided to give it a shot,” she said. “Going in, I thought that I’d be better at the sprints and after doing it the coaches told me that my times were good for a sprinter.”

Next year as a senior, Maynard will be hoping to do cross country, but this year she will continue to focus on her main events during both the indoor and outdoor seasons of track and field for the Pirates. During the winter months, she takes part in the 55m, 55m hurdles, 300m, 200 relay and the long jump. When the weather gets warmer and they head outdoors the junior will run the 100m, take part in the 100m hurdles, the 100 relay and the long jump.

 “The dashes are probably her best events, but after watching her it doesn’t take long to realize her prowess on the track,” Oxford Track coach Dana Peloso said. “She’s the type of athlete that puts in the time during practice as well as outside of organized practices.”

The junior was hoping to once again take part in a pentathlon this year but with all the sickness going around she had to forego the event. 

“I have done it in the past and was hoping to do it again this year, but I had to take a step back and skip it this year,” Maynard said. “I like doing different events and the pentathlon was a good idea because there are so many things that interest me.”

According to the Oxford coach, Maynard is a very humble individual and although she had never done shot put nor had the training she is throwing in the high 20’s. 

 “Annie is a phenomenal athlete and her dedication is second to none,” Peloso said. “She is diligently building her NCAA profile each and every meet hitting personal records and taking part in the pentathlon allows her to add to her resume. She is capable of doing so much more than she already has.”

Originally, the Oxford Pirate found running to be fun, but prior to her sophomore campaign she started to take things more seriously, hoping to earn herself a scholarship to a college where she could run. 

 “There was nothing that I did that stood out for me to realize that I had a talent,” she said. “I just wanted to go out and continue to run while getting better and still enjoying it.”

According to Peloso, although the junior has an agenda for what she would like to do, there are many events she’ll partake in for the benefit of her team.

 “We’re working on getting her noticed on the collegiate level and I want to do right by her, but with the team numbers she’ll be doing some other events as well,” the Oxford coach said. “Annie is an unselfish individual and although she has an agenda, she is willing to set it aside for the team. She can do just about anything and is willing to do just that for the team.”

The junior runner has personal bests in the 55m (7.7 seconds) and the 55m hurdles (10.6 seconds) during the indoor season while during the spring she had run the 100 in 13.4 seconds and has completed the hurdles in 18.0 seconds.

Coming into this season, Maynard was hoping to get her 55-meter run under 8 seconds, which she has done in each and every regular season meet. With her success during the indoor season, she was named a second team Southern Worcester County League (SWCL) All-Star. 

With the spring season just around the corner, Maynard is thinking about dropping the hurdles during the outdoor season and picking up the 200 and/or 400-meter races. 

 “I’m okay with the hurdles, but I really do not enjoy the training and getting ready for the event. I will have to work on adding endurance to my sprinting to do the 200 and 400.” she said. “My goal coming into the outdoor season is getting my 100-meter time under 13 seconds.”

With still one year left at Oxford High School, where she will continue to run track she is hoping to eventually get to run track in college, but at this time is still undecided as to where, all she knows is that it won’t be here.

“I’ve thought about doing track in college, but I’m not sure where,” Maynard said. “I’d like to go to a school like Franklin Pierce (in New Hampshire). I do know that I don’t want to go to school anywhere in Massachusetts. I don’t enjoy it at all, I’d much rather be somewhere secluded, out in the country.”

So, with an entire year and a season of running left Maynard will have to make a name for herself here in Massachusetts, if she wants to get away and go to a college in a much more rustic area.