Spectacular season: A Q&A with Onaway track and field star Madilyn Crull

It was a thrilling track and field season for Onaway girls junior sprinter and high jumper Madilyn Crull.

Last weekend, the Onaway star earned all-state honors by finishing runner-up in the 100-meter dash and eighth in the 200 at the MHSAA Division 4 finals held in Hudsonville.

Most recently, Crull chatted with the Daily Tribune about her season and much more in a Q&A session.

Q: You earned Division 4 state runner-up in the 100. Describe the experience you had running that race.  

Crull: It was very exhilarating, honestly. I went in the second seed with my time and everything, before we even got to states. I was ranked No. 1 for basically all season because my very first meet I ran a 12.8, and so that was the top time for everybody, and then (Frankfort’s) Tara Townsend ran a 12.78, I think on May 30. I was pretty excited because I thought I could get top five at least, because I’d never seen any of the other girls before, but other than that, I was really excited to finally run that race. I only raced her one time all year, so I was excited to race her again.

Q: You were only beaten out by Townsend in the 100. What was it like racing against her?  

Crull: It was kind of nice because, I mean the Mancelona meet, the only race other than states she pulled a hamstring, and I think it was our first or second meet. She was about midway through pole vault, she came over to race the 100, and she pulled a hamstring or something like that with about 20 or 30 meters left and she still beat me, and it was crazy. She said she wasn’t hurt while she was running, but she could tell something happened but she just kept going, and she felt it as soon as she stopped. I was like, ‘No kidding, that’s insane.’ She’s just a beast out there. It’s crazy.

Q: You weren’t able to finish all-state in the high jump like you did last year, so you were clearly upset about it. How were you able to refocus so quickly that it later helped you in your sprinting events? 

Crull: Honestly, what (Coach) Marty (Mix) has taught me is to use that anger because there was one race like that last year. Last year I would skip (high jump) heights because they would start at like 4-foot-4, and I was just jumping 5-1 or whatever I was just jumping, and I was like, 'Yeah, I’m not jumping that low,' so I would skip heights and I skipped all the way to 4-8 in an Indian River meet, and I completely went out at that height. I scratched all three jumps. I didn’t even get on the board that day, I didn’t have a height that day, which is kind of depressing, but then I used that anger because it’s like, ‘Wow, that’s never happened before,’ and I go from 5-foot-1 and I can’t even clear 4-foot-8 with three jumps, so then I went and ran the 100 and 200 afterward, and I basically just used the anger. Those are the two best times I’ve run all season long. Honestly, it’s sometimes a good thing because I’m able to use that to do well in my other events.

Q: I ran track a long, long time ago, but never qualified for states. What’s that entire day like being in a meet like that and truly how much different is it than even a big meet like regionals?

Crull: The first year it was extremely nerve wracking and way different from anything I’d ever experienced before, which was last year. This year we got there at 8:30 (a.m.) and left around 5 o’clock (p.m.) maybe, so it was an entire day thing, but that’s because I made it to the finals. Last year I didn’t make it to the finals in my races, so we were able to leave there by like 2-2:30 last year, but we had extra time this year. It’s an exhausting day, but it’s so much fun to be able to see these talented athletes out there, honestly. It’s just really fun to watch for me. Even when I’m not competing, I enjoy watching it.

Q: When did you find an interest in track?  

Crull: Funny story, I actually never used to like track. I started my sixth grade year. My mom was third in nationals in college for the hurdles, so they’re like, ‘Hey, this kid’s fast! Maybe she’ll take after her mom,’ and so they ended up getting me to run. They made me do cross country and track and basketball, and made me try all these sports just to get a feel for everything, and track was one of them. I ended up sticking with track because I was decent at it. I was always one of those kids like, ‘Oh, she’s the fast girl,’ of the class or whatever, so I was always extremely competitive, so I kept through it and everything. I didn’t like it probably until my eighth grade year, I started to like it, and my freshman year we weren’t able to have a track team, which sucked because my first year of high school I was super excited for it, and then we got shut down and everything. Coming back my sophomore year, that’s really when I started to love it because I realized I could actually do exceedingly well in a sport for my own benefit instead of a team. I love teamwork and all that kind of stuff, but I know that when I do that, I’m doing it all on my own.

Q: So, your mom was your big track influence then? 

Crull: For sure, 100 percent my mom. Marty (Mix) was too, but he was basically the one who kept me going through. My mom started me in it, Marty’s the one who kept me going through it, and same with cross country.

Q: You’ve obviously had a lot of success in track, but your father (Mike) is a baseball guy who coached Onaway for 10 seasons. Did he ever try to convince you to play softball or was he always fine with you running track? 

Crull: Many times. He felt like he was going to be able to come to more softball games than he would've been able to come to track meets, so he always wanted me to do softball instead of track before I got better at it, because he wanted to be able to watch me and everything I did, and he planned on coaching baseball for quite a few years after I started, and he did, but he wanted to watch my sports so he really begged me to do softball, but I didn’t have any interest in softball, and I didn’t have really any interest in track because I’m somebody who very much dislikes running, but just the atmosphere of track and everything. Honestly, he retired from baseball just to watch my last two years of track, just because he didn’t want to miss anything, so that’s pretty neat.

Q: If you two raced in the 100, how much do you think you’d beat him by?  

Crull: I’m going to say when I started in sixth grade I couldn’t have beat him, but he doesn’t really stand a chance now. We were just joking about that the other day. After states he’s like, ‘Oh, I could’ve beaten you,’ and we were messing around about it.

Q: Was there ever a moment early in your career when you realized, ‘Hey, maybe I can be really good at this’?  

Crull: Last year. I thought I was going to do exceedingly well in high jump, and I have been doing pretty well in it, but then I look at these other girls and I’m like, ‘Man, they’re jumping 5-4, 5-6' or whatever it was, and for my first year, doing track as an actual sport other than middle school, of course, but my first year of actual high school track because I didn’t get my freshman year. It was a way different atmosphere, and as soon as I got into my sophomore year I realized everything was going to be way different than I thought. I was always someone who loved basketball, but when I got into high school I’m like, ‘Track’s my sport.’ I don’t know what clicked, but as soon as I got into high school and started running track, I ran two or three meets before I was like, ‘Yeah, this is my sport.’

Q: How influential has Coach Mix been in your progression as a sprinter and high jumper?  

Crull: Incredibly influential. He’s constantly texting me. If he gives us a day off he’ll text me and be like, ‘Hey, I told everybody not to run, but please make sure you run.’ I’m probably one of the main people he’s always looking after, which I really appreciate, but he really does take good care of me and he’s always keeping track of what I’ve been doing and how I’ve been feeling and what’s been going on and what I did that week, because if we don’t have practice he wants us to know, ‘Hey, did you go out for a bike ride this weekend?’ He’s always making sure I’m doing something and staying active.

Q: What’s your favorite track event and why? 

Crull: It was high jump, but I don’t know. It kind of varies every year. Last year was high jump because that’s the one I was best at, that’s the one I was doing better than more people at, because I didn’t even make it to the finals of the 100 and 200, but this year I was doing well in high jump and everything, and beat the record and was like, ‘Wow, that’s really neat,’ then I was like, ‘This 100 is pretty awesome.’ I don’t why, but this year I was doing way better in the 100 than I was last year, and then Marty was like, ‘Well, maybe next year we’ll take you out of the 100 and put you in like hurdles or something, just to get you a feel for that because the 100 isn’t your strong point,’ but I proved him wrong and the 100 is basically my strong point now, clearly, but I don’t know. I think it’s the 100 now.

Q: What event that you’ve never participated in before do you believe you could also be good at?  

Crull: I really want to try long jump. That’s the one event I’ve been begging Marty to let me try, but he doesn’t want me to. I did practice long jump one time last year over in Indian River, because we don’t have (a track) here and he’s like, ‘Dang, you’d do really well in that,’ and that I could qualify in regionals and everything, and then he’s been talking to me about it and my mom has been talking to me about it, and we’re like, ‘We want you to try the hurdles, of course,’ just because I can run and jump, so why not try the hurdles? Marty actually put me in the 300 hurdles the first two meets of the year, but I ended up not running them because I’ve never jumped over a hurdle before, so I was too nervous to do it. I think the hurdles or long jump, honestly.

Q: We talked about Tara Townsend earlier, but who would you say are the sprinters/high jumpers you’ve enjoyed competing with the most?  

Crull: I really enjoy competing with Larissa (Huffman) and Hannah (Robinson) from Indian River (Inland Lakes). They’re good friends of mine. I used to go to school with Hannah, so I have a history with her and Larissa both. I love Larissa, she’s the sweetest. Sprinters, Lauren Fenstermaker from Indian River. She’s always been a good friend of mine, but I don’t really have any sprinter friends. It’s mainly high jump friends because you get time to sit there and talk to them in between jumps, so I have a lot of friends from high jump.

Q: Coach Mix told me you hate cross country. Why? I think it’s a great sport!  

Crull: I just don’t like running, I’ve never enjoyed running. There are people out there who love running, and props to them. I wish I loved running, too. I just don’t like running at all. When you’re running cross country, yes, it’s for conditioning, but honestly that’s the only reason I do it at this point. I used to do it for competition and everything, but now I just do it to stay in shape for track, because I need to stay in shape for track and I need to be doing something the first part of the year. I don’t know. You run for 3.1 miles, so it’s just boring to me. I like to have the high jump or the 100 or basketball, where it’s something different. It’s not the same thing for 20 minutes.

Q: You have one season left to win a state title in one of your main events. What will it take for you to finish first?  

Crull: Offseason work, 1000 percent. I’m thinking about doing track camps this summer, because I was going to do a winter track thing, just go to different colleges, and they have track meets at their colleges for anybody who wants to join. It’s like $10-$15 a person and you can go do any event you want. I didn’t get that. I found out about it like a week or two too late this year, but I’ll probably compete in the offseason as much as I possibly can, because I know they have it during basketball season, but obviously basketball will be my priority at that point, but during cross country season and this summer I’m going to try and get as much track stuff in as I can, and a lot of offseason conditioning, too.

Q: You’ve clearly got the talent to run in college. Is that your main goal?

Crull: That’s what I’m striving for, is to get a scholarship for track right now. Me, Marty and my parents have been doing a lot of things. We’ve been making a lot of accounts and putting us out there. Like, Wayne State followed me, I got a letter from (Lake Superior State), but I’m only a junior so I still have another year before I get all those in, so hopefully.

Q: Lastly, Coach Mix told me recently that he believes you’re the most elite track and field athlete in the school’s history. When you hear those words come out of his mouth, what does that mean to you?  

Crull: I don’t know. Honestly, it makes me feel good, but also I don’t like the constant attention. My parents actually put up signs when we came back to school on Monday (following the state finals), because basketball or wrestling people will have police escorts if they’re going to states and stuff like that, but, funny story. My grandma actually asked me, ‘Do you have a police escort out of town?’ and I said, ‘Of course not, they don’t do that for track,’ so then they put up signs in school, so that kind of stuff is just embarrassing to me because I don’t like the attention on me. When I play basketball, I get really nervous because I don’t like all the attention. Like track, I like running at bigger meets because there’s less focus on you compared to like a quad meet or something. I love those words, and I’m not sure if I completely believe him half the time, but I love it. I love that he is encouraging me and that kind of stuff.

This article originally appeared on Cheboygan Daily Tribune: A Q&A with Onaway track and field star Madilyn Crull