Annie Pogue is indefinable, yet recognizable. Enigmatic yet charismatic. Maybe even a bit problematic.
However you choose to define her, and regardless of how she chooses to define herself on any given day, Pogue’s traits mold one undeniable figure: a true athlete.
Pogue is described in Oregon’s 2000 track and field media guide as one of the school’s “most explosive athletes.” Not surprising considering her double duty with the volleyball and track teams.
Yet, as she wraps up her fifth and final year at Oregon, she never fulfilled her athletic eligibility. But that doesn’t mean she didn’t want to.

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In retrospect, the 23-year-old Pogue says everything has worked out for the best. She has no regrets about her time in Eugene, even after being excused from the volleyball team in the spring of 2000.
“It was kind of an awkward situation,” Pogue said of Oregon’s coaching change, which replaced Cathy Nelson with former Idaho mentor Carl Ferreira in January 2000.
Despite ranking fourth on the team in kills and second hitting percentage in 1999, Pogue said she did not fall into Ferreira’s new plan for the team. “We didn’t get along,” she said of her relationship with the new coach.
Subsequently, Pogue was one of several players from Nelson’s roster released by Ferreira, which also included Carli Halligan.
“We were both really bummed out,” Pogue said, also referring to Halligan. “At that first fall camp when we weren’t playing any more, we made the team a care package and watched a whole practice. At that time, it was really hard for us, and we were heartbroken.”
The disappointment, however, didn’t last long. Pogue and Halligan joined the school’s Club Sports volleyball team, where they won the club national title in 2001 and 2002.
“We still wanted to play and have fun, and that’s a big part of the success of the Club team.” Pogue said. “After we’ve had a couple seasons at the club level and two national championships, we talked about how we beat the system.”
Beat the system in a sense that the two friends, both exceptional athletes, also took advantage of the academic opportunities available at the University, something they would not have been able to do had they still been on the varsity volleyball team.
“I think it worked out for everybody,” Pogue said. “Now I don’t even think about (Oregon volleyball).”

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“That’s the only interesting part about this whole thing,” Pogue said, referring to her sudden departure from the volleyball team.
Touché. Her volleyball career is hardly half the story.
Pogue likes to run, too. Yes, she enjoys running.
“I just like it,” she said. “I like being able to go out and run 26 miles in an afternoon if I feel like.”
Hence the April 15 marathon she ran in Boston, the largest race in the world. In just the second “official” marathon of her life, Pogue was the 497th woman to finish the race — out of 5,339 female runners (14,573 total).
“People always say if you’re going to run a marathon, that’s the one,” Pogue said. “I loved doing it, but it hurt. There’s a big hill at the end, and all of a sudden, at Mile 18, it really hits you.”
Amazingly, two days after the Boston Marathon, Pogue joined up with Halligan and the club volleyball team in Dallas, Texas, where they won their second national championship. Halligan was named the tournament MVP, an honor Pogue received the year before.

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Nelson has remained influential in Pogue’s life. Now the volleyball coach at Eugene’s Sheldon High, Nelson encouraged Pogue to try out for the Oregon track team.
In 2000, her only season with the track squad, Pogue participated in a number of events, including the 100-meter dash, the 10,000-meter run and the long jump, competing mostly unattached in several meets.
Then she injured her knee and had to have surgery.
“I was just doing something in my off time,” she said of her year with track. “I was planning on going back to track, but I was just getting out being an athlete. It was going to take a lot (after surgery) to get back to where I needed to be to be competitive on the track team.”
So now she just competes for fun. And coaches on the side.
Nelson asked Pogue two years ago if she would coach a youth club team. Pogue, like Halligan and former Oregon volleyball player Julie Gerlach, agreed to be a mentor.
“Annie’s got a lot of things to offer,” Nelson said. “She has a passion for everything she does. She has a lot of potential as a coach; the girls really loved her. I hope she will continue to give back her knowledge of the game.”
Pogue is also an artist. For her visual design classes, she has made several Web pages, many of which have some of her drawings.
“Visual design has a lot of more hands-on art stuff to do; it stresses creativity,” said Pogue, who had a 4.0 GPA at Del Mar High in Campbell, Calif.
Pogue has no immediate plans after graduation; she’s only planning to head back home to the Bay Area.
“I’m probably going to have a job where I just trace stuff for a couple years,” she said.
Then again, her plans have been strayed before.

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From a pessimistic standpoint, Pogue has had a jagged journey at Oregon; it could be said that she is a bundle of potential that was never fully released. Optimistically, she’s had success with every obstacle in front of her — and she’s enjoyed it, too.
“There could be sadness about what happened (with volleyball),” Nelson said. “But Annie’s not that way. She goes with the punches if things don’t work out. She’s got a lot of intensity, and she’s very talented.”
And while it’s not a fairly tale ending, perhaps a bit ironic, Pogue seems to be emphatic about whatever course she may run into.