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Madeleine Davison feature - Mary Albl - DyeStat

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DyeStat.com   Nov 25th 2015, 1:34am
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Davison ready to give Foot Locker another try

 

By Mary Albl for DyeStat

 


 

The memories of Dec. 13, 2014 still haunt Madeleine Davison.

 

That was the day of the Foot Locker Cross Country National Finals in San Diego, Calif. and Davison needs no reminder that she finished dead last out of 40 high school girls.

 

"I definitely have some lingering psychological things from that race at Foot Locker, and a couple of other bad races I had last year," she said. "They kind of pop up every once and awhile."

 

But every good result Davison has authored since then has progressively erased the self-doubt. A year later, with positive outlook and a new approach, Davison is focused on a return to San Diego and a chance to make amends.

 

Davison has trained on her own since summer and competes unattached. This Saturday at Van Cortlandt Park in New York, she’ll return to the Foot Locker Northeast Regional. The top 10 individuals in the boys and girls championship races will advance to nationals.

 

"If I make it back to Foot Locker Nationals, then goal is to run a race that I can feel good about," Davison said. “And prove that I'm not going to choke at the national race. I guess I want to prove to myself that I'm tough enough."

 

An unattached approach

 

Davison, who is from Wexford, Pa., is technically a high school senior. Home schooled most of her life, Davison has competed for the nearby high school, North Allegheny, since freshman year. But after the track season ended last spring, which included a Pennsylvania Class AAA title in the 3,200 meters, she decided to go in a different direction.

 

This fall the 17-year-old is running unattached and taking college courses at nearby University of Pittsburgh.

 

"It's definitely been a change, but a positive one so far," she explained.

 

The reasons behind the change were two-fold: Academics and athletics.

 

Having finished all of her online high school work, Davison has been able to take a reduced course load at Pitt through a special program and get a jump start on college. (She has committed to Syracuse).

 

It also helps that her dad, Jon, works at the university, so she already has a connection.

 

The other motivating factor, Davison said, was an opportunity to focus on the “bigger picture.”

 

At North Allegheny, Davison said she felt the strain of a continuous and non-stop cycle of racing. She decided, along with her personal coach, Sam Bair, that running unattached would allow the freedom to create a less demanding racing schedule.

 

"She is more or less simulating the college experience now," said Bair, who also coached fellow Pittsburgh-area distance standout Brianna Schwartz. "She's taking classes, racing sporadically and trying to time her races much better so she can actually train, recover, rest, and race, as opposed to just being hit with race after race."

 

Bair said Davison sat down her with father, Jon, and they put together a plan.

 

Davison's dad consulted with Ryen Frazier's parents about the process.

 

Frazier, who is now a freshman at the North Carolina State, ran unattached in high school and was one of the most successful runners in the class of 2015.

 

"He's a natural researcher," Bair said of Jon, who is a pathologist and the university. "The two of them put together a racing schedule so that she could train and race and keep her head on straight. He's been invaluable."

 

This fall, Davison has raced four times. She got her first taste of what she was getting into in early September at the Harry Groves Spiked Show Invitational at Penn State. In a race filled with college women, she ran the 6,000-meter course in 21 minutes, 59.3 seconds and finished eighth.

 

Most recently, on Nov. 15 at the New York Road Runners Cross Country Championships at Van Cortlandt Park, she placed 16th overall and was the second female. She logged a personal best time on the course with 17:47. (She ran 17:53.6 for fourth at the Foot Locker Northeast regional last year).

 

"I still feel like I have plenty of good races left in me, which is not how I felt at this point last year," Davison said.

  

A positive change

 

A typical day for Davison begins at either a local high school track, or a park, where she'll get in a morning workout. Bair said she is running about 45-50 miles a week.

 

Then she commutes about 30 minutes to the city for classes. She's currently taking Calculus 1, Russian History and Russian Literature.

 

"I didn't know I was signing up for Russian Literature, it didn't say it was specifically Russian literature on the course description, but I knew I needed a literature class," Davison said, laughing. "It's worked really well with my history class."

 

It's a change of environment and pace from the home schooled life for Davison, who is using the year to get ready for college.

 

“It's been good to get a sense of organizing my time differently," she said. "Also learning a few things about what it's like to be in college, like the fact you have to walk everywhere."

 

Bair said he's seen a major change in Davison this fall in her overall attitude.

 

"She is a lot more relaxed, and I have to say, she is just so much happier," he said. "She's able to handle the stresses of racing better."

 

Ready for the big stage

 

Davison said Foot Locker Nationals was a wake-up call in terms of training and racing.

 

When December hit in 2014, her body really didn't have another race left.

 

This fall, she has honed in on a new race strategy, less aggressive at the beginning and focused on time rather than place.

 

"Now, it's about being patient and working my way up," she said. "It's so much more of a positive way of racing for me."

 

Davison said she misses her teammates from North Allegheny, but overall she's received a lot of support in a decision that's turned out to be the right one.

 

"It's been absolutely perfect," Bair said of Davison's unattached season so far. “Everything has worked out just the way we planned it. She’s a very sturdy girl, meaning she handles the work but she’s also very bright. She eats well. She sleeps well. She is going to be a very good collegiate runner."

 

This week, Davison is focused on Saturday’s race at Van Cortlandt Park. She is excited not only for the qualifying race but a chance to finally get back to racing with her peers.

 

 

"I feel like having people around you that are so good and also your age, kind of motivates you. It's a little bit harder to get motivated by 30-year-old men running in front of you," Davison said. "It will be great to see where I stack up."



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