With the explosion of girls' distance running talent that our state has seen in the past few years, it can be easy to lose sight of the tremendous improvement made by some of the individual runners. South Mecklenburg's Madeline Talbert has quietly been producing great races since the spring, when she clocked 5:02.26 for the 1600. During the fall she dropped 24 seconds off her PR in the 5K, finishing 9th in the 4A state meet (she was the 3rd-fastest senior in that race). Her success has carried over to this winter season, with her time of 3:07.20 for 1000m putting her in the top 10 in the state and right in contention at the state meet (she has also run 15 seconds faster for the 1600 than last winter). Possessing more speed than you would think, Madelin is one of many girls with their eye on breaking the 5-minute mark in the mile this spring; she races consistently well and has a way of elevating her performances in the final few meets of a season, so keep an eye on her when the meets really start to matter!
Madelin's Athlete Profile