Hard works pays off for Eaton
Maddie Eaton jumpstarted her spring track and field season this February with a second-place finish in the mile at the Saginaw Valley State University High School Invitational in Michigan.
Her time of 5:14.34 placed her second out of 63 runners and made her want even more.
“I went into it feeling not the most positive and I was ‘No. You have to believe it. It is mind over matter.’ And I ended up second. Ever since then it has been focus on my training and I go into each week and work my hardest,” said the Grade 11 student at Laura Secord Thursday.
It has paid off and Thursday she won the senior girls 800 metres and 2,000-metre steeplechase at the Niagara Region High School Athletic Association Zone 4 track and field meet at Centennial.
“It was that extra kick in the butt. I am always trying to motivate myself but that was a definite push.”
Last year, the 16-year-old St. Catharines resident, who competed in track and field in elementary school and joined the Thorold Elite Track Club in Grade 8, made it to the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations meet in the 1,500 metres and placed 18th. In Grade 9, she competed at OFSAA in the 300-metre hurdles and placed 13th.
Her goal last season was to make it to nationals but she wasn’t having success early on.
“I was thinking what event I could do to get there and my coaches told me to try steeple (chase).”
It turned out to be a great choice as she qualified for nationals in the steeplechase and ended up placing ninth after going into the event ranked 13th.
“That was when I realized I was better at distance so I decided I would head towards that route.”
Her favourite event is the 1,500 metres but she decided to skip that during the high school season and focus on the other two events.
“I didn’t have enough time between the two events to do the 1,500,” she explained.
Eaton attributes her success in steeplechase to Thorold Elite coach Steven Fife.
“He really pushed me and motivated me to work on my form. I had hurdle form before that and he told I had the form down and I just had to work on the distance and I would be good.”
There was also a lot of inspiration coming from her mom, Lisa Eaton.
“She was so proud of me and knew I really wanted to get to nationals. That was another push and made me believe in myself more.”
Her goals for this season are to once again qualify for OFSAA, hopefully in both events.
“I have already qualified for nationals for steeplechase so now it is just getting my 1,500 time down a little bit more to get qualified for that,” she said. “I want to work hard and get as many PBs as I can in the season.”
Fife loves having Eaton at Thorold Elite.
“Maddie has been a leader on the distance team for three years. She has amazing spirit, always very positive, is a great team player and an excellent ambassador for other girls in running.”
