CHESTERFIELD, Mo — Anna Miller tried many sports growing up. However, none were a good fit.
Until she tried swimming.
“I finally got around to trying swimming, and I was like ‘Yeah. This is the one,” Anna said. “When you get to a meet and you compete, and you feel your hard work paying off, it’s the most incredible feeling ever.”
Anna parlayed her commitment to swimming into an incredible five-year run for Missouri State’s Women’s Swimming and Diving program. During her career, she was All-Missouri Valley Conference five times. Anna won the Missouri Valley Conference Swimmer of the Year in 2021. She racked up 27 career conference golds, three Missouri State University records, and is the first female swimmer in the school’s history to qualify and compete at the NCAA Championships this past March.
“I don’t even know how to describe the feeling it gives me,” Anna said. “(Making the NCAA Championships) is something I’m so proud of. To be surrounded by some of the best swimmers in the world, and to be there and say that I made it because of the hard work I put in was incredible.”
All of those achievements are enough to make any athlete proud. Anna also took pride in what the team did in the pool.
In her career at Missouri State, the Bears won conference swimming and diving championships every season. Missouri State has won six consecutive Missouri Valley titles.
“It is so incredible for all of the girls that have been involved in any of that,” Anna said. “You have that reputation about you that you’re a winning team. It’s an amazing feeling.”
Anna says she has retired from competitive swimming. She is now working towards an MBA from Missouri State.
But she is staying involved with the sport.
“I am doing some lessons with my old swim team, the Rockwood Swim Club,” Anna said.
“I hope I’ve been able to be a good role model for people and that people can look up to me.”
