Marx battles through injuries to capture come-from-behind state 400 title
May 19—CHARLESTON — As Madalyn Marx entered the final turn, her chances didn't look great. For the first 250 meters, she coasted and stayed in the middle of the pack, falling about 20 meters behind the leaders.
Little did everyone in the O'Brien Field stands know this was by design.
"I have a method that my club coach taught me, and I've been working on that," Marx said. "I saw all the girls beside me, and I did not want to get fourth. I just gave whatever I had for the last 150."
For about the first 350 meters or so of the Class 2A girls' 400-meter dash final on Saturday, all the attention was on Chicago South Shore International College Prep's Leah Smith and Galesburg's Syriah Boyd, who were neck and neck from start to finish.
Then, out of nowhere came Marx. The Mahomet-Seymour sophomore began charging ahead, rapidly narrowing the gap like she caught a new wind. With only a couple strides to go, she caught the leaders. As she crossed the line, she had done it, winning the race in a personal-best 56.11 seconds, just seven-hundredths of a second ahead of second place, and avenging her runner-up finish from a year ago.
"I just feel really blessed," Marx said. "This season's been kind of hard, and I was able to persevere and be the top dog."
You wouldn't know it by watching her on Saturday, but Marx physically couldn't run after the Apollo Conference Championships on May 2.
She had already been dealing with a left ankle issue for a couple weeks, but then she started having complications with her right foot. The pain got so bad that she couldn't run, and she started to worry if she would be able to return to the state meet to go for her title. Thankfully, she was able to power through a short rehab process to win at sectionals and qualify for state.
"I took a little time off, and I just practiced slowly and didn't do the stuff I knew would hurt me," Marx said. "As soon as I got on this track, I knew what I had to do. I just tried my best and gave it all I had, and that was enough."
Marx had plenty of nerves heading into Saturday's final. How could you not after her leadup to that day behind the scenes? On top of the issues with her feet, she didn't run the time he was hoping for in Friday's prelims, so she didn't know what to expect.
As she walked out to the starting blocks in lane six, there was her good friend, Cameryn Cobb, a teammate of hers for the Vipers Track Club and a sophomore at Unity. Cobb was volunteering to help hold the blocks down for the sprinters, and she made sure to get lane six for this race.
"Nerves are always very high during that race whenever Maddie gets on the blocks," Cobb said. "When she saw me beforehand, she was like, 'You're on my blocks, right?' It felt like she just melted in and got ready for that race and was just excited and hyped."
Marx went through her warmup routine and gave Cobb a hug right before settling into her ready position. Cobb watched as she took off, but she wasn't worried about seeing her fall behind early. She'd seen enough from Marx at club meets and practices to know what was coming.
"I knew she was going to find that extra gear no matter what," Cobb said. "I started jumping up and down when I saw her go, and I knew she was going to catch her. I was really excited to see that."
Marx also anchored the Bulldogs to a runner-up finish in the 1,600-meter relay to end the meet. The second leg of that relay was senior Lauren Burr, who anchored the 800-meter relay to a sixth-place finish after spending most of the race toward the very back of the pack.
"My relay can count on me to bring it and make it close," Burr said. "For the 4x4, Maddie is like 'You have to give me a race to finish.' She points to me and is like 'I know you'll do that.' I like to be able to make sure my team can count on me."
After getting the baton from Evelyn Hillard, Burr ran a solid second leg before handing off to Kara Carney, and Marx brought it home to earn them a silver medal.
"It feels amazing to finally do it my senior year," Burr said. "It took me until my junior year to finally make it to state, so just going to finals and then getting second place is all I could dream for my last meet."
Marx is already thinking ahead to next year, hoping to defend her 400 title and shave another second or so off her time. That's just her competitive nature and constant drive to improve.
Future plans aside, she did finally take a moment to realize what she had just accomplished. With a big smile, she said, "I'm definitely happy and really proud of myself."
