By Dr. David Davis
She has been so close to earning a state cross country medal over the past two years, but she somehow came up short.
However, Pearland senior Maddie Peters finally broke through with a stunning performance at the University Interscholastic League Class 6A 5K state cross country meet at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock.
Considered one of the most decorated runners in Pearland High School history with over 40 medals, Peters added to her collection at the state meet with a third-place finish with a time of 17:03.3, which was good enough for a bronze medal.
She finished behind state champion Macy Wingard (16:57.1) of Denton Braswell and San Juanita Leal (16:57.7) of Edinburg North in a very close race.
Peters cruised to the Region III-6A title in 17:23.2 to comfortably win by 34 seconds over Rowan Saacke of Tompkins on October 24 to advance to the state meet.
After battling some health issues at the state meet the last two years, Peters finally got her medical challenges under control.
She was in fourth place in 2020 and leading the race in 2021, just 200 yards from the finish, when she passed out each time. Peters had no recollection of the events when they happened.
When it was determined that Type 1 diabetes was hampering Peters’ drive to the top, problem-solving became much easier for the Peters family.
This year, the Texas A&M commit has won six of the seven races she’s entered and finished second in the other.
She recorded a winning time of 16:45.5 at the Southlake Carroll Invitational to win by 16 seconds.
Peters considered offers from New Mexico, Houston, SMU, Georgetown, and Mississippi State before deciding on attending Texas A&M.
