AUSTIN – Winning a gold medal is the thrill of a lifetime at any UIL State Track and Field Championships.
Winning two gold medals and a silver medal?
Even the bigger dreamers usually don’t reach that far along in their dream.
But that’s exactly the busy Saturday Silverton junior Maddie Francis had at Mike A. Myers Stadium with a dream-come-true performance leaving the Class 1A girls’ portion of the meet with gold medals in the high jump and 100 hurdles, along with a silver in the 300 hurdles.
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Francis scored 28 team points by herself and that effort meant Silverton finished in a tie for fourth place in the 1A girls team race.
“This day is something I did dream about,” Francis said. “But I’m exhausted.”
And who could blame her for being tuckered out.
Francis opened her day winning the high jump as she was in no mood to play a strategy game clearing 5-foot, 2-inches winning on fewer misses.
Then in Saturday’s evening session she crushed the field in the 100-meter hurdles leading from start to finish, then completed her medal haul finishing second to the defending state champion in the 300 hurdles.
Francis opened her day not messing around. Instead of waiting to enter the high jump at a certain height, Francis was one of four in the nine-girl competition to start at the beginning height of 4 feet, four inches.
By the time Francis tied her season-best 5-foot-2 on her second attempt at the height and eighth jump overall, all was right in her jumping world.
Francis won the 1A state high jump gold medal on fewer misses over runner-up sophomore Brenna Briles of Forestburg.
“Really, it’s probably adrenaline is what went right today,” Francis said. “You make it this far you might as well try your hardest. Jumping here and in a front of crowd like this is nerve wracking.”
Briles missed twice at five foot clearing the height on her third and final jump. Francis missed once at five foot before clearing on her second jump and that proved to be her golden moment in the sun.
Both Briles and Francis missed their first attempts at 5-2, then mirrored each other clearing the height on their second jump. But with the other three remaining contestants bowing out of the competition at 5-2, that meant silver and gold were guaranteed to Francis and Briles.
Since both failed to clear 5 foot, 4 inches on all three attempts, Francis was declared the gold medal winner.
Francis said with the competition so elite and a few of her opponents having jumped higher than she had entering Saturday, starting out on the first height of 4-foot, 2-inches was a no brainer.
“In jumping anything can happen,” Francis said. “I knew I could probably make the podium but really my whole strategy was just to try my hardest.
“I started out opening height. Some of these girls have jumped higher than what we finished at so I just wanted to get a mark.”
In the 100-meter hurdles, Francis was simply dominate in the race she started running this year for the first time.
Francis exploded out of the blocks owning the lead by a couple of meters by the first hurdle. Then it was a case of ‘see ya later’ as she built a larger lead throughout the race finishing in 14.79, almost two seconds ahead of runner-up Kaitlyn Collins of Wells (16.25).
Francis said the fast start out of the blocks was something missing in her runs early in the year.
“It’s very rewarding from all the work I’ve put in all season,” Francis said. “Very rewarding. I have worked a lot on the start. I wasn’t the strongest out of the blocks early in the season and I’ve worked to fix it.”
Francis stayed smooth throughout the race and despite the large lead remained focus.
“I try to stay relax so I didn’t fall or anything,” Francis said. “But I still try to push it and beat my time. I guess I was hoping for a race like that but you just never think about it.”
The 300 hurdles race became a two-person show by the 150-meter mark with Francis running in lane five next to defending champ sophomore Gracie Lane of Gordon in lane four.
Coming out of the turn the two were well ahead of the rest of the field. Lane held a small lead at the time and then over the final two hurdles Francis slowed a tad.
“I just ran out of gas,” said the honest-as-it-gets Francis.
Lane won in 44.27, with Francis second at 45.21 and then the bronze went to Tatum Heady of Roscoe Highland at 47.40.
Francis was more than happy with the two golds and a silver as she improved immensely from a year ago here at stat with a fourth place finish in the 300 hurdles.
Silverton girls track coach Janee’ Harrison said not making the medal stand last year was a strong catalyst for Francis’ impressive three-event performance Saturday.
“Maddie has pushed herself all year long in the weight room to get stronger and we are so proud of her,” said Harrison, who gave credit to Silverton hurdle coach April Howell and high jump coach Noe Beltran for Francis’ improvement. “When she didn’t make the podium last year it put a fire in her.
“Maddie is an athlete any coach would love to have.”
Francis said the folks back in Silverton will be proud of her special day at the track.
“We have a very good community who is always encouraging us to do our best,” Francis said. “I like that. No matter how good or bad you do they are always going to support you. I will celebrate by spending time with my family.”
For a full look at the UIL state track and field meet results, please visit https://uil.tfresult.com/