Pretty much every cross country or track and field story in the state lately includes a mention of Hopkinton’s Maddy Lane. She doesn’t let the noise get to her when she’s out there running, however.
Between keeping an A average, her involvement in school clubs and running six days a week, it can be hard to keep up. Junior year is a big one academically and athletically. SATs come up around the same time as college coaches start swarming.
Hopkinton also doesn’t have an indoor track program or even a surface for Lane to run on, but she had a fairly smooth transition back to outdoor running in the spring. Winning comes with consequences, too — traveling for regional and national competitions.
None of those hurdles showed in Lane’s performances, though.
Her state record-shattering efforts and championship-winning pace continued to grow this past year. For that, she was recently handed the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year award in spring girls track and field, an award that followed identical honors for cross country earlier in the school year.
“Throughout my high school career, I’ve been able to progress and continue to improve year after year. So just continuing that and trying to focus on staying healthy,” she said.
She received the cross country recognition in January after winning the Division III state meet and the New England XC championships and finishing fourth at the Nike Cross Nationals Northeast Regional Championships.
Lane continued her blistering performances in the spring and won three state championships at the Division III meet in the 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs.
The next week, she beat her 3,200-meter time by a full 15 seconds, finishing in 10 minutes, 24 seconds to claim a title at the NHIAA Meet of Champions. The week after that, she won the New England Track and Field Championship in the 3,200 with another large improvement. She outpaced her competition by 17 seconds and won it all in 10:20.45.
On the national stage at the New Balance Outdoor championships, she finished third place in the 5,000 in 16:37.29 behind Georgia’s Averi Lowen and Ohio’s Sophia Szolosi.
“Maddy Lane was the most dominant distance talent in the state this spring and arguably the most decorated girls track competitor,” wrote Rich Gonzales, editor for PrepCalTrack.com, on Lane’s Gatorade Track and Field POY page. “She doubled down on her POY status in cross country and delivered, earning a bronze at nationals, a New England title, three state titles and clocking six personal-bests.”
Running up and down the hilly roads and trails of Hopkinton prepared Lane well. So did her family.
Both of her parents were runners in college: her father Matt Lane ran at William & Mary, and her mother Erin Sullivan Lane competed Stanford. Matt, of Yarmouth, Maine, was an 11-time All-American; he later turned pro with Nike and went on to finish fourth at the 2000 and 2004 U.S. Olympic trials. Erin, of Jericho, Vt., was a two-time cross country All-American and a Pac-10 champion.
Running is more than just a hobby for the family, and Maddy Lane is still writing her own story in New Hampshire competitive history. This summer, she took a week off after nationals and went right back to it.
“Running is something that I truly enjoy. So even just going out for a run or doing a workout is oftentimes something that’ll relieve stress,” the rising senior said.
Her parents have helped tremendously, especially her father, who is her off-season coach. Similarly, her Hopkinton coaches, George Sabol and Mark Roskamp, have been there every step of the way.
Lane is currently focused on heart rate-based training in preparation for cross country in the fall. Lane has her sights set on making it back to nationals and improving on her time. She wants to set personal bests at every cross-country course she revisits.
Lane plans to commit to her collegiate step this fall, but until then it’s all about keeping pace.