UAA heptathlete Karolin Anders: Athleticism and resolve

Five years ago, a promising young javelin thrower from Germany looking to compete and attend college in the U.S. on an athletic scholarship made email contact with UAA assistant coach Ryan McWilliams through a recruiting service.

McWilliams was intrigued. This Franz Burghagen guy owned marks that tagged him as the real deal. The Seawolves already had an exceptional javelin thrower in Cody Parker, and McWilliams thought Burghagen would be a strong training partner for the Canadian, and an exceptional addition to the track and field program.

But there was one catch, and McWilliams feared it was a deal-killer — Burghagen was only interested in UAA if there was also a spot there for his girlfriend, Karolin Anders, a jumper and potential heptathlete.

"To be completely honest, I'm thinking, 'His girlfriend is going to be horrible, and we won't be able to offer her a spot, so we'll lose him,' '' McWilliams recalled. "Then Franz sent me her resume. Turns out she looks great, and I'm thinking, 'Hey, man, she'd make an immediate impact. We can definitely make that work.' ''

Yeah, safe to say Anders made an impact, both immediate and long-term, as a multi-event athlete and jumper. As the Seawolves head to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference outdoor championships this week in Monmouth, Oregon, she is among the most decorated athletes in school history.

Burghagen was no slouch — the three-time All-American finished third, second and fifth in his three appearances at the NCAA Division II outdoor nationals. Still, Anders has been a revelation. The senior is an eight-time All-American — seven in the multi-events, heptathlon and pentathlon, and one in high jump. And she owns the GNAC record for most career points earned at conference indoor championships and sits third all-time in most career points earned at conference outdoor championships.

"In the end, she's a way better deal for the university than I ever was,'' Burghagen said.

Rough start

In the beginning, though, Anders caught a bad break that seemingly put her freshman season of competition on hold.

On her first day of training at UAA in the fall of 2012, she hopped off a treadmill to quickly grab a drink from a water bottle. When Anders pivoted to return to the treadmill, she tore the meniscus in her left knee.

"So stupid, so random,'' Anders said recently, laughing and shaking her head over her cup of tea in a Midtown restaurant.

Her knee required surgery, and the possibility of redshirting her freshman seasons was raised. That's when the Seawolves discovered Anders' elite athleticism was equaled by her considerable resolve.

She basically spent her first semester at UAA in two places — classrooms and the training room — and recovered well enough, and quickly enough, to compete indoors in the winter of 2013 and outdoors in the spring of that year. All she did was finish fifth in the pentathlon at indoor nationals and fifth in the heptathlon at outdoor nationals to bag her first two All-America honors.

"Honestly, I don't know how she did it,'' said McWilliams, a former Division II All-America decathlete who is now associate head coach under long-time head coach Michael Friess. "I tried very hard to convince her to redshirt.

"She ended up willing herself to an indoor and an outdoor season. I have no qualms about saying she's the toughest athlete I've ever had.''

The woman who Burghagen said always keeps "fighting and fighting and fighting'' at her first GNAC outdoor championship won the high jump, finished second in the heptathlon, took fourth in both the long jump and triple jump, and competed in a 100-meter hurdles heat. She earned the Seawolves 28 points on their way to the women's team title.

The way Anders figured it, going to school and competing in the U.S. was a gift she did not intend to take for granted.

"From the beginning, I knew what I wanted,'' said Anders, 24. "I knew it would be part of my life for four or five years, and I made it my priority.

"So much energy from other people, so much support — from coaches, teammates, training staff, Franz — I would be an awful human being if I didn't try to do my best.''

Undaunted

When McWilliams first dangled the idea of Anders becoming a multi-event athlete, she was undaunted by a prospect that can be, well, plenty daunting.

The heptathlon consists of seven events contested over two days — 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put and 200 meters the first day, followed by long jump, javelin and 800 meters the second day.

The event requires a body capable of delivering speed, strength, athleticism and endurance, and the ability to handle a heavy training load. It also requires a mind strong and disciplined enough to not only handle the constant volume of training, but also able to shrug off disappointment in one event and prevent that bummer from bleeding into the next event.

Think of the demands. A typical Anders day — morning training, classes, afternoon lifting, evening homework, "and 10, or 10:30, I would pass out.''

Yet all that is directly in the wheelhouse of a woman who says she is demanding of herself and always likes to have tasks and goals to pursue. Away from the track, Anders has earned bachelor's degrees in English and history, and earlier this week defended her thesis for her master's degree in English — all in her second language, remember. She's contemplated law school or getting a doctorate in English. Burghagen, meanwhile, earned his master's in business from UAA and works at First National Bank Alaska.

As a junior in high school, Anders traveled from Berlin to Ferndale, Washington, where she went as an exchange student to improve her English, and also finished sixth in the Class 3A triple jump at the state meet.

No surprise, then, that she jumped at McWilliams' suggestion she take on the multi-event.

"There was the diversity of it, and that he was encouraging,'' Anders said. "I was really up for the idea — you cannot talk someone into being a multi. I've had so much fun. It's mentally challenging. It's the most magnificent thing in track and field.''

Burghagen said Anders' determination is one of the qualities that first attracted him to her.

And Anders' freshman teammate, Elena Cano, a hurdler and budding multi, said her friend's resolve is an inspiration.

"She just always has a positive attitude about everything,'' Cano said. "She'll always be one to help someone. She'll always be willing to do another rep.

"Her drive and passion for everything keeps me motivated.''

At the GNAC outdoor multi championship earlier this month in Idaho, Cano competed in her second heptathlon. She was nervous before the final event, the 800 meters, a distance she had never raced until indoor season earlier this year and one in which her personal-best was a middling 2 minutes, 36.73 seconds.

Anders gave Cano a pre-race pep talk — "It's going to hurt either way, so you might as well do the best you can'' — and told her young teammate to stick on her hip so Anders could pace her to a fast time. Cano said she trusts Anders, so she did as instructed — and ran 2:20.11, slashing nearly 16 seconds off her personal-best.

"I definitely couldn't have done that without her,'' Cano said. "She's like a big hero to me, a big inspiration. I can always count on her, on the track and off.''

Enduring

Because Anders is so driven, McWilliams sometimes needs to temper her enthusiasm for difficult workouts — more isn't always better, and training needs to be balanced with rest and recovery.

Frequent negotiations between coach and athlete have been ongoing for five years now. Anders is admittedly headstrong and McWilliams loosens the reins because Anders knows her body.

"But she doesn't get her way all the time,'' McWilliams said.

That's been especially true, and critical, this spring because Anders is training and competing through a foot injury sometimes excruciating enough to "bring tears to your eyes.''

Anders is enduring plantar fasciitis, a chronic inflammation of the ligaments that connect the heel to the toes, in her right foot. The injury prompted her to redshirt the outdoor season last year. She tried multiple treatments — ultrasound, deep tissue massage, stretching, icing — but only rest brought relief.

The injury flared up again in March. That has curtailed her training — "It's hard not to get discouraged,'' she said — at a time when the conference outdoor meet and nationals loom. Even so, Anders less than two weeks ago won her third GNAC heptathlon title.

Her injury has coincided with a facility crisis for UAA's track and field program. When The Dome collapsed in January, the Seawolves lost their primary training site. They adapted by working out almost entirely indoors at the school's Alaska Airlines Center through winter. Now that winter's snow is gone, they often train at middle school and high school tracks.

Anders has been undeterred through it all.

"High expectations are what she's about,'' McWilliams said. "There's no gray area for her. It's black and white, and that can be tough to manage.''

Anders this week will compete in the high jump, long jump and triple jump at the GNAC championships in Oregon. She's 17 points shy of tying the conference record for most career points at the outdoor championships.

"I really want that,'' Anders said. "That would be a nice way to end my GNAC career.''

After that, it's off to Division II nationals in Florida late this month — Anders has automatically qualified for the heptathlon and provisionally qualified for the high jump. Her parents — father Lutz is an electrician, mother Kerstin is an elementary school teacher — will fly in from Berlin and for the first time see their daughter compete in college.

And then Anders will call it a career, and be thankful.

"I was so lucky how everything went, especially with all the nagging injuries,'' she said. "I had great support. I got a great education.

"So lucky.''