Marble Falls athlete Madison Cuplin to compete at Junior Olympics

CAPTION: Madison Cuplin is returning to the Junior Olympics. Photo by Derek Gonzalez

Marble Falls High School junior Madison Cuplin is competing in three events at the Amateur Athletic Union’s Junior Olympics in Houston.

She is in the 15- and 16-year-old age group in the 100-meter dash that has 97 runners with the first preliminaries starting Tuesday, July 29, triple jump that has a total of 78 athletes that is Wednesday, July 30, and the long jump that has 95 entries on Thursday, July 31.

Marble Falls High School girls track and field head coach Brenda Gonzalez had a front row view of Cuplin’s 2025 season where she took bronze at the Class 4A state meet with a leap of 18 feet and 6 inches. She also placed fifth in the triple jump with a mark of 39-1.5.

Cuplin had won numerous gold medals throughout the high school season and is the reigning District 24-A champion in those events.

“In high school you go by team,” Gonzalez said. “She finished third and fifth in state. But that’s in Texas.”

What the coach means is that during the high school season, athletes compete for their high school programs and line up against other Texans competing in the same events, no matter their ages. If coaches believe their athletes are good enough to have success on the varsity level as freshmen, they’ll compete on that level.

That was the case for Cuplin the last two years.

But at the Junior Olympics, organizers divide the athletes according to their ages. And that can be helpful as colleges put together recruiting classes based on graduating years, Gonzalez said.

“She can see where she ranks as far as class of 2027,” she said, pointing out that not every top track and field athlete will be at this meet. But it will certainly give Cuplin more data that can only help her as she continues to work toward her goal of obtaining a scholarship.

The other important personal trait the Lady Mustang is the ability to perform her best when it matters most. She made her debut at the state meet in May and was nervous when she began. After all, there’s no meet in Texas that can prepare athletes for the setting that is the state meet because of the sheer number of teams there as well as the spectators that line both sides of Mike Myers Stadium on the University of Texas at Austin campus.

But after a couple of jumps, most of that was gone and she was able to focus on her objective.

That’s what makes Cuplin so tough, her coach said.

“She knows she’s gifted,” Gonzalez said. “She also knows she needs to put in the work. She aspires to reach certain goals. She knows it’s going to be hard. But she steps to the line and gives her best effort – that’s what helps her. She knows she’s gifted, but she puts in the work and she has fun with it.”