Two Elite Weber State Runners Recognized in Women of Weber Exhibit
OGDEN, Utah – Weber State University track coaches recognized the potential of two Utah high school athletes, who hadn’t attracted much attention anywhere else, and Lindsey Olson Anderson and Sarah Callister Sellers have gone on to compete at elite levels of the sport and both continue to thank those dedicated coaches.
In December, Weber State University is honoring Anderson and Sellers as part of the “Women of Weber” exhibit, which focuses on extraordinary women whose service, accomplishments, careers and philanthropy have enriched lives and educational experiences at the university. Each month throughout the academic year, the photos and stories of various women are on display outside Archives on the first floor of the Stewart Library.
Lindsey Olson Anderson
When Lindsey Anderson stepped on the track at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, she was competing in the first ever women's 3000 meter steeplechase. She was also the first Weber State Wildcat Olympian in the summer games.
In November 2021, the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association named Anderson the NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association) Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year after leading the College of Southern Idaho women’s cross country team to their first ever national championship.
“We knew it was possible, but to have it actually happen was very special,” Anderson reported to the local media after the race. “They were very, very, very solid. I’m so proud of them.”
Surprisingly, for all her successes, track was not the sport Anderson dreamed about as a young athlete. What she really loved was soccer. She and twin sister Angela were the only girls in their Morgan, Utah, neighborhood, so they competed against the boys in everything. The twins never got out the door until their chores and piano practice were complete. Their parents instilled a serious work ethic, which was augmented on their grandparents’ farm in Santaquin, Utah, during the summer.
The work and play helped develop Anderson into a three-sport athlete in high school: soccer in the fall, basketball in the winter and track in the spring. Soccer was her focus although what she loved about the sport was running — so track came naturally. Anderson ended up winning five state track and cross-country titles in high school. Even then, she wasn’t heavily recruited at the university level, except by former long-time Weber State track coach Jim Blaisdell.
“He was by far the most consistent coach to talk to me and kept after me about going to Weber,” Anderson said. “He put a lot of effort into recruiting me. I wasn’t the top runner in the state by any means my senior year, but he saw potential in me and really wanted me to come to Weber.”
Once Anderson donned a Wildcat uniform, it was WSU coach Paul Pilkington, the 1994 Los Angeles marathon champion, who helped her transform from a “pretty good” college runner to a nationally ranked, two-time All American.
Anderson trusted Pilkington enough to change her running style midway through her college career. For nearly a year, she actually ran slower.
“By her senior year, she adapted,” Pilkington said. “She didn’t give up; she didn’t get frustrated. She stuck with it, and it paid off.”
Anderson broke the NCAA 3000 meter steeplechase record in 2007 and ended her Weber State career with five school records in indoor, outdoor and cross country. She was inducted into the Weber State Hall of Fame in 2017.
After graduation with a degree in mathematics education, Anderson wasn’t ready to quit running. She continued training with Pilkington and accepted the chance to run professionally with a Nike endorsement.
“I signed with them for three years. During that time I qualified for the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan; the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China; and the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, Germany,” she said. “I did multiple races all over the United States and outside the U.S. as well. It was a unique and special time in my life.”
The best race of her life was the Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon. She raced a personal best of 9:30.75, for a qualifying second-place finish. She recalled the run during an oral history interview with Weber State Archives.
“Coming down the final straightaway in second place, knowing I was about to make the team, and then crossing the finish line was indescribable and still gives me chills thinking about it. Such a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” she said.
At the 2008 Olympics, she placed 24th overall, four below the mandatory slot for the final round, but it was exhilarating to compete with the best runners in the world.
From college through her professional and Olympic career, Anderson relied on Pilkington’s knowledge and support. He not only trained her as a runner, but also influenced her decision to transition from math teaching to coaching. She worked as his volunteer assistant coach helping the Wildcats from 2007 until 2014.
“Paul Pilkington has been the most instrumental in who I was able to become as an athlete and helped shape the kind of coach I want to be,” she said.
After the Olympics, Anderson and her husband Mark welcomed two children: daughter Peyton and son Avett. In 2014, she accepted a coaching position at California State University Bakersfield, and then in 2018 became the head coach at the College of Southern Idaho for men and women’s cross country and track and field.
Just like the multiple-sport athlete she was in high school, Anderson continued her drive to tackle multiple challenges. As a mom, wife and coach, she also earned a master’s degree in athletic administration from Idaho State University and started training as a marathoner.
“It was certainly a balancing act, making time for everything,” she said. “Luckily I enjoyed doing all of it, so I was able to make it work. I thought I was busy when I was going through my time at Weber State. Looking back, I had no idea what busy was yet. As I got older I got better at handling busy schedules.”
In 2018, at the Chicago Marathon and again at the Los Angeles Marathon in 2019, Anderson qualified for the 2020 Olympic Trials in Atlanta. There she finished 38th in a field of 390 runners, which included Sarah Sellers and three other Wildcat women. Weber State was exceptionally well represented, and although no one broke into the top three qualifying positions, purple pride and talent were on full display.
“Competing the second time around was more about the experience and giving my kids a chance to see me run at an Olympic Trials, since they weren’t around the first time,” Anderson said.
It’s not just competing at the Olympics that sets Anderson apart. Even in her coaching career, she is a standout as one of the few female head coaches for both men and women in track and cross country.
“I go to coaches’ meetings at the NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association), and there are only one or two other females in the room,” Anderson said. “I hope I can be a mentor and source of advice for other women who strive to be head coaches. The advice I would give to anyone is to get experience. You may have to volunteer for a lot of years gaining experience before you get your chance at a head coaching position. If it’s something you love, it’s easier to put in the time, so make sure it is something you really want to do. The only way to know if it is is to try it out and gain experience in the process.”
Anderson said her life trajectory changed because Weber State coaches helped her develop potential that others did not see. She hopes to honor them by doing the same with the next generation of track and field athletes.
Sarah Callister Sellers
On April 16, 2018, the world learned about Sarah Callister Sellers.
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Through driving sleet, Sellers “came out of nowhere” to finish second in the Boston Marathon. She had no sponsor. She paid her own race fees. She trained before and after work as a nurse anesthetist in Arizona. Her former Weber State track coach Paul Pilkington provided her training regime over the phone. Boston wasn’t just a second place finish; it was her second marathon — ever.
“When the race official told me I was second, I made them repeat it several times because I was like, ‘No, no, no. What place was I overall?’ I thought I misheard it.” Sellers recalled the moment during an oral history interview for WSU Archives. “My husband Blake happened to get to the finish line right as I crossed, and I told him I was second, and he just started jumping up and down and was like, ‘You’re second in the Boston freaking Marathon.’”
Her husband’s reaction was not unlike that of the rest of the sports world. Stories about the improbable accomplishment appeared around the world in publications such as the New York Times, The Guardian, NPR as well as Utah’s newspapers and TV stations.
Pilkington was watching the race on TV from Ogden. The coverage of the final six miles made it hard to tell how she was doing, but when Sellers crossed the finish line, Pilkington’s smile and phone lit up simultaneously.
“She went from ninth or 10th in the final six miles,” Pilkington said. “I was thrilled, my phone started ringing immediately. It was a lot of fun for her, and for me and for our program.”
The success and attention were daunting for Sellers, partly because she worried about everyone’s expectations for future races. To continue after Boston, she had to block out chatter and focus on her coach’s feedback.
“I was having a hard time not caring what other people thought,” Sellers said. “I would compartmentalize and say, I care that Coach Pilkington thinks I do well, and he can objectively assess whether or not it was a good race. Just because some online forum doesn't think I did well, if my coach thinks I did well, if he's pleased, then I can be pleased. Like that was a good benchmark.”
Pilkington inspired Sellers from the time she competed for Ogden High school. She admired the successes he had with his runners, especially Lindsey Anderson. She knew she wanted to continue to improve her running and decided Weber State was a great place to do just that. At her first summer camp with the Wildcats, Pilkington advised her to pick someone good at the sport and copy that routine.
“Lindsey was an Olympian; she was really good at what she did, so I just copied her,” Sellers said. “I lifted the same way Lindsey lifted. I would go on a lot of morning and distance runs with her. I did a lot of her track workouts. My workouts were shorter and slower, but she really just showed me the dedication that she put into it, and I just copied everything she did. So that's probably kind of annoying from her standpoint, but she never made it seem like it was.”
Apparently, the strategy worked. Sellers was a nine-time Big Sky champion, winning the 5000 meters and 10,000 meters three times each at the Big Sky outdoor championships. She also won the 5000 meters twice and the 3000 meters once at the indoor championships. She was selected twice as the Weber State Female Athlete of the Year.
Despite all the success, Sellers’ Weber State career ended suddenly when she broke her foot running a 5K at the University of Washington. She was devastated, knowing she would never earn All American, an accomplishment she had trained and sacrificed for. She had even pledged to give up her favorite food — ice cream — until she earned All American.
Without the title, she didn’t eat ice cream for another five years. Finally her husband took her out for her birthday and said, “Get over it. You did great things at Weber, and this is just hanging over your head."
In retrospect, Sellers said it might seem trivial, but eating that ice cream that night seemed to melt away the disappointment. After all, she had accomplished so much at Weber State. In addition to her amazing track record, she maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA as a nursing student. She’s the only athlete in Weber State history to earn Academic All-America honors three times.
Sellers graduated and moved to Florida where she studied to become a nurse anesthetist at Barry University. During grad school, she began to run a little but only lightly as her foot continued to heal.
In 2017, her younger brother called and asked if she would like to run the Boston Marathon with him. She in turn called Pilkington, who agreed to map out a training regime, which they reviewed by phone twice a week. Sellers trained before and after 12-hour shifts at the Tucson, Arizona, hospital where she now works. She worried she wasn't able to focus solely on her running. Instead, she often had to push herself when she was fatigued from handling a demanding job.
“I think that's what prepared me to do well at Boston,” she said in retrospect. “The reason I was second place is because it was horrible weather, and I think psychologically I was able to handle it. I was used to pushing myself when I was mentally fatigued and didn't really feel like doing it. And that's just how Boston was that year.”
For her accomplishments as an athlete and a nurse, the Weber State Alumni Association honored Sellers as Outstanding Young Alumna in 2018 and created a video tribute. She’s continued to push herself in both areas. Along with Lindsey Anderson, Sellers qualified for the 2020 Olympic Trials in Atlanta, where she placed 11th.
“That was a really good race for me,” she said. “It was a really tough course. I didn't make the Olympics but actually it was a good performance for me, and I was able to be happy with it.”
After Atlanta, in 2021, Sellers added a new dimension to her workouts. She now pushes 9-month-old daughter Emery in the stoller. They are up to 17 miles together as she trains for another spring marathon.
Sellers and Anderson continue to support and push each other. Pilkington said their competitive drive and willingness to learn is what made them valuable recruits and turned them into elite athletes and successful professionals, qualities that haven’t changed since they stepped on the track.
“They are both very driven, very dedicated,” Pilkington said. “They did anything and everything they were asked to do. They were excellent students and did everything necessary to become world class.”
Women of Weber
Weber State University is proud to honor Lindsey Anderson and Sarah Sellers as part of “Women of Weber,” which was an outgrowth of a collaboration with Weber State Archives, Special Collections and the Museums at Union Station called “Beyond Suffrage: A Century of Northern Utah Women Making History.” The project was a commemoration of the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote in 2020. Although the pandemic put a hold on the celebration, it did not dampen the enthusiasm to share the stories of outstanding women who changed lives.
For photos, visit the following links.
wsuarchives.smugmug.com/Lindsey-Anderson/
wsuarchives.smugmug.com/Sarah-Sellers/
Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University.
Allison Barlow Hess, Public Relations director
801-626-7948 • ahess@weber.edu- Contact:
Allison Barlow Hess, Public Relations director
801-626-7948 • ahess@weber.edu