BOSTON - Annie Rodenfels went from not qualifying for the NCAA Division III Cross Country Nationals her freshman year at Centre College to earning All-American honors and winning the national steeplechase championship.

Yet even as she was setting records and earning honors for the Colonels, she always had a bigger dream — becoming a professional runner — even though she knew how hard that would be for a Division III runner to do.

She researched what opportunities might be there for her after college and became her own agent. She found a spot with Greenville (S.C.) Track Club-Elite. However, it was a semi-pro team with no significant training partners for her.

"I was not making enough money to live off of. I was working part-time jobs. I was coaching and doing other things," Rodenfels, a 2019 Centre graduate, said.

That changed recently when she signed a "real contract" with the Boston Athletic Association and moved to Boston.

"I am actually making money now. I am a paid runner," Rodenfels said. "I moved to Boston a few months ago because this is a well known professional team that has had a lot of success. It's a larger team with more resources. I only wear Adidas stuff now because Adidas is a sponsor.

"I had reached out to them about joining. I was on kind of a contract with my last team but when it ran out, I felt it was time to leave. I needed people to train with. I really had not had anyone since my sophomore year at Centre with Serena (Gale-Butto). I am good working out on my own but I needed someone to train with.

"In the last two years I have had a PR (personal record) at almost every race. I have gone a minute faster in the 5K (3.1 miles) since college. I am running the times of a  real pro and now I am on a professional team. I didn't want to go sign with a brand and find my own coach. I wanted to go the team route and this is perfect for me."

She recently won the USA Track & Field New England women's cross country title in Boston. She finished the 6K course in 20:25.

"I had not really run cross country since college and that was a PR by 30 or 40 seconds since nationals my senior year and it was not really a fast course," Rodenfels said. "There was no real competition other than my training partner and I out kicked her. It will be interesting to see what I can run without the mud but it was kind of fun to get back to cross country."

She qualified for the Olympic Trials in the steeplechase but suffered a back injury about a month before the Trials. She felt like she could be a top 10 finisher and set another PR but the bulging disk in her spine combined with a reaction from her second COVID shot had her far from her best when she did compete last summer.

"I did not run well but I was worried I might not even get there," Rodenfels said. "I was grateful I just got to compete."

She's also grateful for the way Centre College and coach Lisa Owens prepared her for a professional career even if she did not realize it at the time. As a professional runner, she often has a full day at her disposal and Centre instilled the value of time management in her.

"Centre is not an easy place to go to school and focus on sports at the same time," Rodenfels, who came to Centre from Centerville, Ohio, said. "Now that I have all day to do my run and stuff, that time management is important. You learn perseverance going to Centre and the DIII (Division III) route not that I had a lot of other options.

"I love competing and seeing how fast I can run. Coach Owens pushed me. Without her as a coach, I would not be here where I am today. I would never have pushed as hard without her. I also saw how long she has coached and thought, 'If she can live out her dream, why not live out my dream.' She meant a lot to me.

"It's hard to work your way up from Division III to where I am now. You can run just as fast but people may not notice. I have had to show I can run the same as runners from bigger schools but  now I am in a great place with Boston Athletic Association."

How great? She just ran a 15:08 5K to break her personal best by 27 seconds. That's the 12th fastest indoor 5K ever by an American woman.

Rodenfels was supposed to be the pacesetter for the event at the  Boston University indoor meet opener that included BYUs Whittni Orton, the recent NCAA national cross country individual champion, and teammates who finished second as a team in the NCAA cross country championship.

"I was going to be the pacesetter for 3K but I ended up feeling good and had a great race," Rodenfels said. "It was definitely my best race and got me a lot of exposure and interviews."

It also got her the qualifying standard for upcoming championships.

Rodenfels plans to do the USA Track & Field National Club Cross Championship in Tallahassee Saturday and knows her recent 5K indoor run  "set me up well" for this race. She will continue to compete  indoors in January and February. After that, she will be off to "altitude camp" for two months in Albuquerque, N.M. with her team.

"I have different motivations than a lot of other runners do for what I do. When you are so young and are going to college on a track scholarship, running is like your job and that puts pressure on you," Rodenfels said. "I had the freedom at Centre College to learn to love running and now it is amazing to be paid to do what I love."

In addition, on Dec. 8, Rodenfels was hired as an assistant coach for cross country and track & field at Wellesley College. It is the first collegiate coaching job for Rodenfels, who coached for two years at the high school level when she was doing semi-pro running in South Carolina.