West Allegheny’s Salek flourishing at Oklahoma St.

Maddie Salek’s collegiate running career has been the embodiment of blind faith and trusting the process. Over the course of five years, the West Allegheny alum has developed into one of the top runners on Oklahoma State’s No. 3ranked women’s cross country team. The bibs that line the ceiling in her room at OSU — most of which are from her first two seasons — serve as an important reminder of exactly how far she has come.

“I keep them up because my freshman year was really rough here,” Salek told the Post-Gazette. “I wasn’t producing. I was homesick. I was just going through it. So I keep those bibs up because if I can get through that, whatever I’m going through today won’t be as bad.”

Take the 2019 Husky Classic at the University of Washington for example. Salek, a freshman at the time, was so nervous she could barely pin the bib to her jersey prior to the 800meter indoor track race.

Best believe that one still hangs in her room today.

“My hands were shaking,” she said. “I was so stressed out for no reason. Every time I see that bib I kind of laugh because I can’t believe I was ever that nervous to do something I love.”

Judging by her steady progression from then to now, it’s clear that Salek indeed loves running. Whether it’s cross country in the fall, indoor track in the winter or outdoor track in the spring, she remains a model of consistency for the Cowgirls. The graduate senior got off to a hot start to begin the 2022 cross country season, notably with a third-place finish in the 5K race at the Cowboy Preview where she finished with a time of 10:41.1.

This comes after a particularly strong 2022 outdoor track season. It started with the 800-meter race at the Joe Walker Invitational, where she finished 27th overall with a time of 2:06.56. Salek also led the Cowgirls to a runner-up finish in the 3,200meter relay at the Drake Relays, and picked up her first victory of the season at the Arkansas Twilight in the 1,500 meters with a time of 4:22.50. She placed 13th overall in the 1,500 meters at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships before wrapping up her season with a 27th-place finish in the 800 meters at the NCAA West Prelims.

“I kind of just appreciate that I’m able to run because we have a very large team and there’s a lot of people who can’t,” she said. “When you get in these high-pressure situations in races for your rankings and qualifying for nationals, you’ve got to look at it with perspective. A lot of people want to be in this position. So never dread it. Appreciate it, and hope that at the end of the day it’s enough.”

For Oklahoma State, Salek’s production has been more than enough ... as has her senior leadership and coachability.

“Maddie, as an athlete, teammate and human, has come so far from the time she got here,” said OSU assistant distance coach Anna Thorp. “She’s always been a great person, but she’s someone that people gravitate toward. She always has a way of being a good listener for her teammates and also making light of situations to take stress off those around her. As an athlete, she has an ability to take criticism — whether it be in running or life — and self-reflect and make changes. She’s a big part of our team and our culture.”

And don’t forget her inrace demeanor.

“When she gets to the starting line, she’s kind of like a little pitbull out there,” Thorp said with a laugh.

Salek was forced to weather a major culture shock when she first arrived in Stillwater. In addition to no longer being the best runner on her team, the physical components to running for a top-tier Division I program were entirely different.

At West Allegheny, where Salek was a twotime all-state selection and four-time New Balance national qualifier, her practices were primarily sprint-based — a stark contrast from the strength training and aerobic-heavy approach that Oklahoma State leverages. Adjusting to a 70 mile-per-week workload was an abrupt change of pace.

“I entered college as a middle distance runner, so cross country was painful from the gun,” she said. “Here, the training entails a lot more volume so it makes you a stronger runner. You show up as a freshman not expecting to be the best, but by the time you’re done with your 4 or 5 years here, you’re so aerobically strong. You come out of it way better than when you came in.’

Embracing that change took several tough conversations with her coaches, but in hindsight, it was a critical component to her current success. And now, Salek can pass those very same lessons down to her younger teammates, like sophomore Bethel Park grad Emily Carter.

“Having Maddie as a teammate has made everything feel like it isn’t all unknown,” said Carter. “Just having someone you can relate to where you’re from — talking about practice and different races and things — has definitely made the transition a little smoother for me.”

Salek’s collegiate running days aren’t quite over yet — she’ll have one season of NCAA eligibility remaining after this year. And while that part of her story is still unwritten, she’s already thousands of miles ahead of that nervous freshman from the UW Invitational.