Biography
By Jim Hague
It’s safe to say that the cross country and track and field programs at Rutgers-Newark truly represent the vast diversity of cultures and ethnic backgrounds that the school has to offer.
“We’ve become like the United Nations,” Scarlet Raider head coach Juan Edney said. “It’s really interesting.”
Enter the cross country’s latest international addition, junior Anastasia Shiyanova, who prefers the nickname of Ania.
“Ania is better,” Shiyanova said. “It’s short and sweet.”
Shiyanova was born in Murmansk, Russia, but moved to the United States, settling in Jersey City, when she was just two years old.
“But I definitely kept my Russian heritage,” Shiyanova laughed.
Shiyanova went to grade school in Jersey City, then was able to attend a boarding school in Westchester County, N.Y. called The Masters School for four years, thanks to a program called NJ Seeds that takes inner-city kids and places them in schools of higher education.
It was at the Masters School where Shiyanova learned how to become a runner.
“It wasn’t overly competitive,” Shiyanova said. “Eventually, I would finish in the top 15 or so in our races, but I’m not showing off.”
Shiyanova also competed in fencing (epee weapon) at the Masters School, proving her diversity as an athlete.
After graduating from the Masters School, Shiyanova first attended Pace University in Manhattan, majoring in economics, but decided to transfer after two years.
“I wanted a campus where I could become more involved,” Shiyanova said. “Rutgers-Newark seemed to have a better campus. I also knew a few people who went here.”
But during her time at Pace, Shiyanova did not run at all.
“Maybe a leisurely job every now and then,” Shiyanova said. “It was never anything too seriously and never anything that I had to keep a fast pace.”
However, when she enrolled at Rutgers-Newark, she approached Edney and asked if she might be able to compete for the Scarlet Raiders.
“I was interested in rejoining track,” Shiyanova said. “I took a chance to see if Coach Edney would be interested in me. I knew what I wanted to do. It was up to whether he would be open to it, letting me settle in and get comfortable again.”
“Since we only had one real distance runner, I gladly accepted her,” Edney said.
The Scarlet Raiders had only one other female distance runner, Natascha Alves, on the roster, so Edney was looking for more competition for Alves.
“Ania is a very hard working kid,” Edney said. “She’s impressed me so far and I feel the sky’s the limit, just because of how hard she works. Her work ethic is fantastic. She’s fit in very nicely. She’s a little quiet, but that was before I got to know her. I always try to get to know the athletes as people first. I don’t like to look at them as simply runners. Ania is getting there. She’s putting in the time and the miles. The first couple of days, she struggled a little.”
Shiyanova has another version of that.
“No, I struggled a lot,” Shiyanova said. “I hadn’t run like that in a while, but I’m getting used to it now. We work out at 8 a.m. every morning and I have to be there with full energy.”
Edney sees the improvement.
“She’s going to be fine,” Edney said. “You can see that she likes to run and now she’s trying to beat Natascha.”
Wait a minute. Natascha and Anastasia? That sounds like the characters to a Russian spy novel, even though Alves is from Brazil, another member of the R-N United Nations athletic program.
“She sounds like she could be Russian,” Shiyanova said of her running mate. “It’s pretty funny.”
Edney has high hopes for Shiyanova.
“Coach told me he expects me to get below 21 minutes for the 5K before the end of the season,” Shiyanova said. “That’s some expectation, because I’m at like 25 now. It’s going to take me a lot of hard work to get it, but I’ll try.”
Edney doesn’t know what to expect from Shiyanova in terms of competition.
“We’ll have to see what she does later on,” Edney said. “Right now, she’s just getting back into shape. We’ll make a determination about her later. I think the two of them (Alves and Shiyanova) will push each other and make each other better.”
Shiyanova keeps a busy schedule as a commuter student. She works part-time as a tutor for grade school students in Jersey City and is also part of the “America Reads” program for Newark public school students. Shiyanova also makes money as a dog babysitter in Jersey City.
“I have a lot going on,” she laughs.
She hopes to take her economic degree to new heights upon graduation from Rutgers-Newark in 2011.
“I would like to be an ambassador for the United States and travel the world,” Shiyanova said. “I can speak different languages. I can make a big impact on others. That’s what I want.”
As for her transfer to R-N?
“I am having a lot of fun,” Shiyanova said. “I am so happy I did it. I worried about transferring. I worried that I wouldn’t know anyone. But this move has meshed well with my sense of community and my goals. I’m glad to be part of a good group.”
Make that a good group of athletes, who comprise the school’s mini-version of the United Nations.
