If Will Anthony was just a third-year College student, he would already be impressive. Through four semesters at the University, the New Zealand native holds a 4.0 cumulative grade point average with a double major in physics and mathematics. He calls the former his “first love” and particularly enjoys multivariable calculus. His high school friends nicknamed him “Einstein,” and his college buddies call him “4.0.”
Anthony is not just a third-year College student, though. He is also an All-American track athlete, an All-ACC cross country runner and Virginia’s fastest-ever 10,000-meter competitor. That makes him perhaps the most gifted student-athlete at a University full of them, and if you ask Anthony, his two identities on either side of that hyphen are a perfect match.
“I find that studying … is a really good way to take my mind off running,” Anthony said in an interview with The Cavalier Daily. “On the flip side, when I’m out running … I don’t have to worry about a homework assignment that’s due that night. So, they feed into each other quite nicely.”
That much has been evident since Anthony arrived in Charlottesville in August 2022 — as an athlete, he placed top three in the 5000-meter and 10,000-meter events at the 2024 ACC outdoor track and field championships, helping Virginia to the ACC team title. As a student, he has navigated the rigors of quantum physics and advanced calculus with excitement, going two-for-two on All-ACC Academic team selections and earning a CSC Academic All-American honor last season.
To Anthony, the challenges of classwork are akin to the challenges of a collegiate cross country meet or track event. He seeks perfection, regardless of whether he is navigating a pack of competitors or filling in a bubble on a multiple-choice exam.
“The competitiveness that helps me in my running is also really helpful academically,” Anthony said. “[It’s] more competing with myself and being like, ‘Okay, what do I need to do to get an A-plus rather than an A? What do I need to do to maintain a 4.0 [GPA]? That really drives me. I’ll fight for every percent, every 0.1 of a percent.”
Vin Lananna, director of track and field and cross country, saw that ambition in Anthony while recruiting him. Lananna’s current list of descriptors for the 21-year-old includes “great competitor”, “incredibly disciplined”, “laser-focused” and a “great leader” — all things he could have predicted about Anthony before ever meeting him.
“[Anthony] had run well in his junior year, we saw his academic profile [and] it all looked great,” Lananna said. “He seemed like a great match for U.Va. … all you need is to spend a few minutes on the phone with him, and it’s hard not to like him.”
Anthony felt a similar way about Virginia. His slew of New Zealand youth national championships in cross country and track made him a sought-after recruit, and he whittled down an initial list of “thirty to forty” interested schools to “four or five” by his senior year.
He picked the Cavaliers in September 2021, in equal parts because of the University’s academic offerings and its athletic background. Three years later, he has not regretted his choice for a second.
“It’s been unreal,” Anthony said of his experience in Charlottesville. “Just having all these guys who are all focused on the same things you are, and you get to train with them every day and now I get to live with them and stuff. It’s a really cool, really supportive environment.”
Lananna said Anthony’s teammates were accommodating during his first year with the team, but emphasized that much of Anthony’s popularity within the group was up to himself.
“Will fit in perfectly from the day he arrived,” Lananna added. “You know how intelligent he is and how easy to get along with he is, and everybody likes him instantly.”
“Running over rugby”
The story of Anthony and his two-part magic trick began long before he got to the United States — fittingly, it began as a traveling circus of sorts.
Born in Christchurch, the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, Anthony was nine months old when his family moved to southwest England. They returned to Christchurch a few years later and also spent time in Wellington, New Zealand’s capital city, before eventually settling in Whitby, a suburb of Porirua City in the Wellington Region, when Anthony was seven.
The reason for the travel was Anthony’s father, Mike, who is a professional rugby coach of almost 30 years. The elder Anthony was a strength and conditioning coach for the All Blacks, New Zealand’s national rugby union team, when Will was born in 2003. He took a head coaching job with an English rugby club the following year but ended up back with the All Blacks in 2008 and is currently the head of high performance.
Rugby union is the national sport of New Zealand, and Anthony has stronger family ties to the sport than most, so he played plenty of it in his youth. But he also ran cross country, and as early as his meets in elementary school, he had an inkling that it might be his calling.
“Running was the one that I had the best natural talent at,” Anthony said. “My dad would potentially say that I was alright at rugby, but didn’t enjoy it as much … That’s how I settled on running over rugby.”
As for how he settled on making the cross-world move from New Zealand to the U.S. — which, until college, he had only visited a couple of times on vacation — Anthony cited the elite running competition and athletic resources present at American universities. But, of course, he also mentioned the academic opportunities.
“I love my studies,” Anthony said. “I love physics and mathematics. The opportunities for that over here are much greater than back home.”
Though Anthony did encounter some culture shock during his continental transition — he noted a first-year encounter at a University dining hall in which his pronunciation of “cheddar” confused the staff — he is thriving in an environment that constantly challenges him in both sport and intellect. Half of his time in Charlottesville still remains, and Anthony has a few thoughts about what he wants to accomplish before he departs.
Athletically, he has one eye on winning the “triple crown” — an ACC team title for Virginia in each of cross country, indoor track and outdoor track. The other eye is on the NCAA Cross Country Championships in November, when Anthony hopes to win an individual national title.
Academically, he wants to maintain his perfect GPA and take a few master’s level classes in physics to build up a foundation for graduate school. For a student who goes by “Einstein” and “4.0,” that would not surprise anyone. As for Anthony’s goals on the grass, Lananna has high hopes.
“I believe that now that he has increased his volume of training and he has physically matured, I think the sky’s the limit for Will,” Lananna said. “I’m excited to see just how far he can go this year.”
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