“I had several conversations with my coaching staff, and I just kind of joked and said, ‘I just have to wait for a year where we’re not going to make it (to state), when we’re not going be a very good team, and then I’ll go for it,’” Costello said. “Joe Parker, who I coach […]
“I had several conversations with my coaching staff, and I just kind of joked and said, ‘I just have to wait for a year where we’re not going to make it (to state), when we’re not going be a very good team, and then I’ll go for it,'” Costello said. “Joe Parker, who I coach with, he looked at me and he said, ‘You are going to be waiting forever. If you keep saying that, you’re not going to go. You need to go. We will be fine without you.’ So, that was really huge that Joe was very supportive and was, like, ‘Nope, just go. We’ll be fine. We’ll go down to Las Vegas. It’ll be OK’.” Costello recently earned a six-star medal for competing in all six World Marathon Majors, which consists of races in Boston, Tokyo, Berlin, London, Chicago and New York City. Costello competed in her first major marathon in April 2019 in Boston and finished all six this November in New York City surrounded by her family. Costello believes she is one of 17 people in Nevada to have run all six major marathons.Every other week, Nevada Sports Net will spotlight a local athlete as part of our “Legendary Athletes” series, which is presented in partnership with Legends Bay Casino. Today’s featured athlete is former Nevada cross country runner Anna Costello. Costello, a teacher and coach at Reno High, recently earned a six-star medal for competing in all six World Marathon Majors.Costello says hundreds of thousands of people enter into the lottery-based marathons, with the exception of Boston. The New York Marathon took place at the same time as the Nevada state cross country championships. Costello said she is grateful for the support from her assistant coaches and the administration at Reno High that allowed her to compete in the marathon during the biggest meet of the season. Costello didn’t always plan to coach but enjoys sharing her love and passion for running with the student-athletes at Reno High.Completed her six-star medal in the New York Marathon was a dream come true.Sparks native Anna Costello didn’t own a passport before competing in her first international marathon. “I didn’t know if I was going to love it, if I’m being honest,” Costello said. “I reached out to Rhonda Beadell at Spanish Springs when I first got done with college, and I said, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing after college. I want to give this a try.’ It’s been really cool to just kind of show young athletes what the sport is all about because they can do it forever. Obviously, I want every kid to achieve and be the best that they can be. But ultimately, I want them to understand that they can continue to do this past high school and find that community and just that passion for running.” “Everybody that I’ve talked to that had done New York previously said it’s incredible and that you’re going to love it,” Costello said. “So, I was very excited going in. There was a record number of runners just in the New York Marathon, biggest marathon ever, 55,000-plus people. So the energy was very high. The entire City of New York is out there just watching the marathon for hours, so I just took it all in. It was amazing. It really was.” “Just to do one marathon is huge,” Costello said. “I don’t know what the stats are, which is really embarrassing because I teach statistics, but not every person is going to run a marathon in their lifetime. So, you have to run six. On a more personal level, I didn’t own a passport before I started this. My husband didn’t either, so we got passports, we got to travel the world and do something that I love. I think that in itself has been really, really cool to just reflect on and experience.”The Spanish Springs High graduate ran cross country and track and field for the Cougars before competing at Boise State from 2011-14 and returning home to run for Nevada from 2014-16. Costello, who remains in the Wolf Pack record books in the 4K, 5K and 6K races, teaches statistics at Reno High and is the Huskies head cross country and assistant track and field coach. She still competes, too.You can watch our full interview with Anna Costello below.
