Taking lead
Southern Lehigh’s Trout is a special athlete, leader
Southern Lehigh coach Cotie Strong approached Madison Trout about trying the long jump in the team’s final Colonial League meet of 2019.
Trout, a freshman sprinter at the time, said she was game.
She set a school record that day against Northern Lehigh and Wilson with a jump of 17 feet, 11 inches.
A week later, Trout won the Colonial League title in that event.
“If we asked her,” Strong said, “Madison would run anything. She’s a great teammate. She had a little experience [in the long jump] in middle school.
“She went down the runway. The rest is history.”
Trout is looking to make more history this season in multiple events — the 100 and 200 sprints, plus the long jump and 400 relay with a few of her friends.
The 17-year-old moved to Center Valley in the summer leading into eighth grade. She had no friends. She had a brief introduction to track the year before while living in Kansas. She was anxious about the athletic, social and academic transition.
More than three years later, Trout is doing just fine.
“I went to school and everyone was nice, welcoming,” she recalled. “It really was not as hard of a transition as I thought it would be.”
The Trout family found out about the move in November 2016, when father Orville landed a human resources job with Crayola, based in Easton. He moved to Pennsylvania in January, while wife Monica and Madison stayed back until she finished seventh grade.
That was the first year Trout was exposed to track. She ran the sprints in Kansas, then joined Southern Lehigh’s middle-school program the following year. She became good friends that season with many of her current track teammates.
“The move was pretty hard on me,” she said. “But being together every day with my track teammates, it was nice to be involved in something.”
Trout proved to be a natural in the sprints, the
sprint relay, and, eventually, the long jump.
In her first Colonial League championship meet as a freshman, Trout was third in the 100, second in the 200 and first in the long jump and 400 relay. She qualified for the state meet in the 100.
“I heard about Madison in middle school,” Strong said. “But sometimes you hear about kids in middle school, you see their times and you’re like, ‘OK, we’ll see when they get to high school.’
“I knew from Day 1 that Madison would be a special athlete.”
Trout also has proven to be a special leader. A captain this year as a junior, she always is willing to offer advice to her younger, less experienced teammates. She is a diligent worker. And she is open to trying anything if it may help the team, evidenced by her honest effort two years ago in the long jump.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the 2020 spring season, Trout was building off her stellar freshman debut. She medaled in the state’s one-class indoor meet with a school indoor record long jump of 18 feet, 6 inches, and missed out on making the 60-meter dash final by four/100ths of a second.
The spring high school season was canceled, but Trout’s training continued. She did a lot of wickets. She did flies in her neighborhood with her dad. She did A-Skips up the street.
More recently, Trout worked on her starts out of the blocks.
“That’s always been my weakness,” she said. “I always had top-end speed, but I’ve been getting more technical and [my starts] are improving.”
Trout said it depends on the day which event is her favorite: the 100 or the long jump. But she said there is a special place in her heart for the 400 relay because of the extra motivation and responsibility to compete for her teammates.
The anchor along with Lauren McCormick, Taylor Graver and Marley Chase have the Colonial League’s fastest team so far this season at 50.2 as the Spartans look to continue their winning streak which stands at 53 in a row after Thursday’s win over Notre DameGreen Pond. They are seeking their sixth consecutive league meet title.
“I know the kids look up to her,” Strong said. “She’s very positive, always willing to do for the team. Some kids will say they don’t want to run two, three, four events. She’s willing to run anything.
“That’s what makes Madison a special person on this team.”