Going from local races to the track at Nike Outdoor Nationals, senior Maddie Ross’ track journey has taken her all across the state and country. Next fall, she will take her next step forward and continue running at the Division III level at Emory University. After joining the Los Altos High School track team her freshman year, she quickly found her love for the notoriously challenging 400 meters, running a new personal best in almost every race.
“When I was looking at schools, I was really looking for a supportive and close-knit running community,” Maddie said. “At Emory, I found that all the girls genuinely love to be around each other, and the coach is so supportive of his athletes.”
“We could tell pretty quickly that Maddie had a lot of talent,” Head Coach Stephanie MacKenzie said. “She took to the 400 right away, which freshmen usually don’t like because it requires being tough and being able to push yourself, but Maddie thrived in that.”
In her freshman year, Maddie quickly jumped from JV to Varsity, and made SCVAL qualifiers. As a sophomore, she PR’d her first race of the season in both the 400 and 800 meters.
“I first joined track because I wanted to meet new people,” Maddie said. “But then I began to realize track is really cool because you can see your growth with every race and your improvement over time.”
This secured her place on the 4×400 meter team at the Stanford Invitational, where the team placed 5th. It later made CCS finals — where Maddie placed 17th in the preliminaries of the individual 400 — and secured the girl 4×400 teams first-ever CCS title.
“My biggest achievement in track is contributing to the team title for girls in CCS,” Maddie said. “It was really cool to be a part of the school’s history with that.”
Following CCS, the team made the State Championships, where they placed 20th.
“Before the big meets, Maddie would always get a little nervous,” MacKenzie said. “But her biggest strength would be locking in and always performing well despite those nerves. She pushes herself to absolute pain and then holds it.”
During her junior season, Maddie took a bold step by trying a new distance event, the 800 meters. The hard work of extra distance workouts paid off, as Maddie got a new personal best of almost 10 seconds in only one month, earning her spot on the 4×800 meters team at SCVAL Qualifiers.
“Maddie has always been determined, and she knows what she wants,” senior Emily Soobrain said. “We did a lot of off-season training together to keep each other accountable and improving.”
“It was really nice to see her push herself to take on a new challenge of trying out a distance event,” MacKenzie said. “It was out of her comfort zone, and she embraced it, working hard and ending up on the 4×800 team at states.”
Maddie helped lead the 4×800 meter team to a second-place finish at the CCS finals and then a seventh-place finish at states against some of the most competitive teams in the country. In the 400 side, Maddie individually placed seventh in her heat of CCS Preliminaries and helped contribute to the team’s second place podium finish.
But Maddie’s season didn’t end there, as she finished her junior year track season with an unattached 50th place finish at Nike Outdoor Nationals. Now, Maddie’s final track season at LAHS approaches. She has the support of parents, coaches, and teammates to continue to improve before taking to the track at Emory.
“If I were to go back and tell my freshman-year self something, I would just say don’t look back,” Maddie said. “You can do much more than you think; just go for it.”
