Centennial teen awarded athletic scholarship in Illinois
By Kathryn Stocks
Madison Trevena is delighted to have recently been offered a full athletic/academic scholarship for track and cross-country at Western Illinois University. “I really liked the school right off the bat,” she said. Located in Macomb, it’s a smaller school that’s a three-hour drive from Chicago and a 10-hour drive from Toronto.
The 17-year-old Grade 12 student runs the 800 metre, 1500 metre and the 3000 metre, but she said she will focus on the 1500 and 3000 at university. She applied to five other U.S. schools as well as a few in Ontario and found out about the scholarship from Western Illinois In December. She has already signed the letter of intent. “It’s going to be a change, but I’m excited,” she said.
The university chose her on the basis of her overall marks and averages, as well as her track and cross-country, too. Because of COVID, Madison didn’t get to race in her Grade 11 track year. But she was lucky to have two socially distanced meets that followed all the pandemic protocols.
“I had to wear a mask at the start line and everyone started 15 seconds apart,” she said. She didn’t have to run with the mask, she just needed it at the start line and had to put on another one at the finish line.
Madison’s first memory of running was at Charlottetown Junior Public School when her parents encouraged her to try cross-country in Grade 2. She enjoyed it so she kept it up and was Athlete of the Year in Grade 6. She continued running at Joseph Howe Senior Public.
When she got to Mowat, Madison joined the running club and competed in events like the Nationals. In Grades 10 and 11 she was again Athlete of the Year. Her main sports have been rep hockey and running.
Madison knows university in Illinois will be an adjustment for her and she will miss her family, her friends and her cat, but she is looking forward to going there and competing against new people. “All my hard work has paid off,” she said.