This is the first in a series on student-athletes playing a sport during each season in the 2024-2025 school year. The Accolade profiles their contributions and what they do to keep them on top of their game. If you know of anyone who fits this description, contact us at [email protected].
Fast.
That’s the assessment that then-eighth-grader Madelyn Sooter recalled her eighth-grade Parks Junior High School PE teacher had surmised about her after seeing her place first in all three of the running heats she competed in at Parks.
“He’d ask me what my dream college would be, and at the time I wasn’t sure,” Sooter said of her conversation near the end of that school year in May. “He told me that I would be able to make it into any if I keep working hard because of my athletic talent.”
And in the following year as a freshman, that athletic talent to run fast culminated in her setting a new Sunny Hills record at the April 13 Orange County Championships at Mission Viejo High School. In the 200-meter race, Sooter finished with a 26.63 time, surpassing former Lady Lancer Jazmin Montalvo’s 2019 time of 26.7 seconds, according to athletic.net.
And in the 100-meter race around two months before that at the Monday, Feb. 24, Fullerton City Meet at Fullerton Union High School, the then-freshman’s 13-second performance bumped her to second behind Montalvo’s 12.79 time.
Those performances capped a school year in which Sooter also competed in fall and spring sports — junior varsity girls tennis and junior varsity girls soccer. Such feats have caught the attention of not only her track and field coach, but also athletic director Paul Jones.
“Breaking the 200-meter school record as a freshman is a very impressive accomplishment,” Jones wrote in a Thursday, Feb. 6, email to The Accolade. “We are excited to watch how Madelyn does this [upcoming] track season and continue to encourage and support our student-athletes who play multiple sports.
“This is a credit to our coaches for working together to ensure our students have the opportunity to play multiple sports, and Madelyn — like a few other of our student-athletes — is a three-sport athlete, which is very rare these days.”
HOW TO RUN … FAST
Sooter said she was inspired to add running to her club soccer routine after seeing her older sister, Mikayla, join the Lady Lancers’ track and field team as a sophomore.
“Before the start of my first track season, when my dad would take me to watch some of my sister’s high school track meets, I was in awe of the athletes’ speed and was proud of my sister for being part of it,” Madelyn Sooter said. “Similar to how my sister inspired and influenced me to do many of the things I’ve done throughout my life, this was another thing she did that further backed up and inspired an increase in my interest in track.”
Entering her second season on the Lady Lancers track and field squad, the younger Sooter sister has come to realize that her secret to success has been her determination and her diet.
“Something that I would say that has helped with my speed a lot is through consistency, hard work and starting sports at a young age,” said the sophomore, who started playing soccer at age 4. “In starting sports when I was young and consistently continuing, participating and working hard in them, it ultimately has been a big factor in the speed and endurance that I have today.”
Genetics also play a role in her athleticism, the three-sport athlete said.
“My dad grew up doing sports, and similar to him, I, too, am doing so, obtaining his height and athleticism through genetics,” she said.
In fact, it was her father’s idea that she add tennis to her sports skillset. Though Madelyn Sooter said she has played recreationally with her sister and family when she was younger, it was during the summer before the start of her freshman year that he took her out to the courts to work on her game.
“I decided to start [tennis] because it kind of goes hand in hand with agility and coordination with the other sports such as soccer,” she said. “My dad also self-taught himself how to play tennis, so I kind of adopted that, too, and started playing it myself.”
Her dad, Michael Sooter, said he and his wife decided that tennis would be a third sport for their daughter after witnessing her eagerness to participate in as many sports as possible in middle school.
“We were confident in Madelyn’s potential because she showed a genuine interest in the sport and was willing to put in the effort to improve, and while we hoped she would pick it up quickly, our primary measure of success was her enjoyment of the experience and her continuous improvement,” her dad said. “So far, it has been a positive journey for her, and we see plenty of opportunities for further growth if she stays motivated and keeps working hard.”
Like his daughter, Michael Sooter said he was extremely active in sports growing up, having played basketball, soccer, baseball and football and competed in track and field.
In high school, he said he particularly excelled in volleyball, having played all four years, and in his senior year, he was named team captain, league MVP and earned all-CIF honors.
Michaell Sooter said he is proud of what his daughter has done so far in terms of managing her time and staying organized.
“It’s a challenge that many students and adults face, balancing multiple commitments, and it can be overwhelming at times,” he said. “However, we believe that these experiences help build character, strength and resiliency.”
Those summer workouts with her father helped her get accepted onto the girls tennis squad last year, playing fourth-seeded singles, and she continued last semester, moving one rank up to third-seeded singles, though she also played doubles earlier in the season.
Sooter said she has yet to lose a singles match for the Lady Lancers JV squad, which played a factor in her earning the Most Improved Award plaque during her team’s banquet at the end of the season.
“She’s special; she’s faster than every girl out here, and she’s very athletic,” girls tennis head coach Christopher Ghareebo said. “She has good footwork when she plays tennis, and soccer and track might be what helps her with that.”
HEALTHY NUTRITIONAL AND ACADEMIC DIET
To maintain her athleticism, the sophomore said she has to be consistent with her healthy nutritional diet.
“I am still working on improving my diet, but believe that eating clean through whole foods, and having a good balanced diet is also something that helps with having the energy to do well and perform at the highest level I’m capable of,” she said.
In addition to her nutritional diet, Madelyn Sooter has since she was younger had to maintain her consistency with her academic diet, especially in her more challenging subject, math.
She attributes her success in reaching pre-calculus at the sophomore level to her grandfather, Charles Sooter.
“Ever since I can remember, my grandfather, who’s a retired engineer for NASA, has worked with me in improving my math skills,” the athlete said. “Every Wednesday after school, we would work at my elementary school’s lunch tables for around 30 minutes to an hour, in an attempt to further develop my mathematics knowledge and expose me to new topics in math.”
Though the grandfather said his teaching style was simple, Charles Sooter recalled his granddaughter picking up the concepts quickly.
“There is nothing special about my teaching method; I introduce a new math concept, we do several problems together, then give my student a few problems to solve on their own,” he said. “Madelyn was able to finish both the sixth- and seventh-grade curriculum before beginning middle school, so she was qualified to start algebra in seventh grade.”
GIRLS SOCCER AND DREAM SCHOOL
Though soccer has been the sport she grew up playing the most, it came as a disappointment for Madelyn Sooter when she was unable to play at the varsity level as a freshman.
“Ultimately, it was a goal to get into varsity and play on that level as I had always been a very competitive player. … But [I] accepted it, and now I am so glad I was able to meet those people through JV that I’m still close friends with,” she said.
Her persistence paid off, as Madelyn Sooter was able to move up to varsity this season.
First-year girls soccer head coach William Allgeier praised his player for being able to play multiple sports in a school year.
“She is an unbelievable athlete that is incredibly hard working, and it is difficult to be a three-sport athlete, but she does an amazing job handling them with her amazing academics,” Allgeier said. “As her coach, there isn’t too much I can do other than do my best to ensure that she is mentally and emotionally happy.”
And although Madelyn Sooter still isn’t able to name her dream college, she has goals as a Lady Lancer to break more SH records beyond just in track.
“For soccer, I hope that in the coming years, I will be able to come closer to and break the records possibly for most goals scored in a game and season,” said the sophomore, who played center and left forward this season. “But in the meantime, I will continue to do my best and gradually grow as a player to get to this level for the upcoming years.”
And what about track and field?
Sooter broke her own record once again at the Jim Thompson Fullerton City meet on Saturday, March 1, with a time of 26.51 seconds.
“I do wish to set more records in various events for the years and seasons ahead,” she said. “Ever since I broke the 200-meter record in track for Sunny Hills, something within my mindset changed about what truly are my limits and capabilities. … Ultimately, breaking numerous records are now some of the goals that I do have in my upperclassman years, doing so in the events I participated in last year, which include the 100 meters, my last year’s 200-meter record, the 400 meters, the relay records, the high jump and possibly even the 800 meters.
“I believe that even in this coming spring season I will be able to break some of these records that I am very close to doing so through continued hard work and dedication.”
