6/26/08

Growing up on a farm in Greenwood, a town of about 800 in the western Maine countryside, Anna Willard couldn't have been prepared for the life she now leads.

She has been a highly sought interview these last few weeks as she prepares to participate in the U.S. Olympic track and field trials in Eugene, Ore.

Willard, a 2002 graduate of Telstar High in Bethel, is one of the top steeplechasers in the country, ranked third going into the trials behind Lisa Galaviz and Jennifer Barringer. The top three finishers in the 3,000-meter event will go to Beijing for the Summer Games. Willard, 24, doesn't plan on leaving anything to chance.