Marble Falls’ Cuplin reflects on state title, performances

CAPTION: Marble Falls junior Madison Cuplin gets ready to attack the long jump board. Courtesy photo

Marble Falls High School junior track and field athlete Madison Cuplin ended her 2026 season much the same way she finished 2025 – at the Class 4A state championships.

Just multiply her medal count by two – a gold and silver to go with her bronze from last season.

“I went in there being confident in knowing if I just do what I’ve been doing throughout the whole season, that I would have success,” Cuplin said. “So I was just really determined to just show that I can do what I’ve done at a big place with pressure like that. And I’m glad I pulled through.”

Cuplin won her first state championship in her favorite event — the triple jump — with a mark of 40 feet and 5.75 inches on her sixth and final attempt of the event, which also happened to be the last field event of the meet.

After the long jump medal ceremony where Cuplin took silver, Lady Mustangs head coach Brenda Gonzalez and horizontal jumping coach Jamie Graham said Cuplin told them she was ready for the triple jump.

“I feel like this is a good and a bad thing about me,” she said with a grin. “I’m very greedy. When it comes to my performances, I’m always wanting to do better, I know I can always do better. So I was happy with long jump. I threw a good jump out there and I’ve been competing with the other girl, (Sunnyvale senior) Chiora (Enyinna-Okeigbo), forever, so I was happy for her that she pulled it out. As soon as I finished long jump, I was just ready, because I went there telling everyone I’m getting a gold medal. I was telling everyone it’s time, it’s time for triple jump. So I can prove – I can live up to what I’ve been saying.”

Sue enough, when the triple jump started, Cuplin notified the other eight athletes of her mindset with a mark of 40-1.25 to take the lead.

“I just wanted to throw one big jump out there,” she said. “After I saw my first 40, I was pretty satisfied.”

To illustrate just how dominant the Lady Mustang was, consider this. She was the only jumper to hit 40-0. And did it twice. Kilgore freshman Kerrington Bell’s best mark was 39-10.25 for silver followed by 39-8.25 and 39-2. Krum senior Marlie Morris took bronze with a leap of 39-7.75 followed by 39-0.50.

Cuplin said she “struggled to find the board a little bit” in both competitions. But officials take the athletes’ top mark out of their six attempts. So one good jump is all that’s needed.

Knowing she already wrapped up the gold medal, the Lady Mustang went for it all on her last attempt. Graham and Gonzalez said she got all the board when she unleashed the 40-5.75.

“After I knew I already had the success going into my last jump, I just wanted to go see what would happen (and) whatever happened at that point happened,” she said. “So I just wanted to go for it, and I’m glad I could improve my mark. Triple (jump) is very hit-or-miss. Either you have a phenomenal day or just nothing can go right with how specific it is with technique and everything. But I could just tell about my first jump I had a lot and I could pull through with triple jump. As long as I hit the board and everything, I knew I’d be able to handle a 40-foot jump.”

Hours earlier she had a leap of 20-2.75 to tie Enyinna-Okeigbo in the long jump. The University Interscholastic League’s tiebreaker is comparing the jumpers’ second-best marks. Enyinna-Okeigbo’s was 20-1.75 and Cuplin’s was 20-0.5, so the Sunnyvale athlete, who signed with the University of Georgia, took gold.

Enyinna-Okeigbo’s best jump came on her fourth attempt, after everyone else took their attempts. As the leader, she had the advantage of going last. Cuplin equaled her mark on her fifth attempt. Before the Lady Mustang took her turn, she talked to horizontal jumping coach Jamie Graham.

“I’m glad to have Graham as a coach,” she said. “I think he always has a lot of faith in me and loves to watch me succeed in everything. He usually gives me reminders of what I’m capable of, so he just pulled me aside and was like, ‘Hey hit the board. Just attack it, get a good jump. And you’ll be fine. You know what you’re capable of, you know what you’ve been doing.’ So Graham was just reassuring me what of I’m capable of, what I can do. And it helps, I guess it worked.”

Her day ended by competing in two sprints. Cuplin was eighth in the 100 meters in 12.06 seconds and ninth in the 200 meters in 24.62 seconds. 

“I’m not mad considering I took 12 full-out jumps,” she said. “Obviously I’m not trying to make excuses, but I was definitely exhausted. The running events were very tough, but I’m not too mad, especially with the way I performed in the morning.”

As she reflected on the meet, Cuplin pointed out she doubled the number of events she competed in from last season and is looking forward to what is coming.

“I love having people that are better than me because it makes me be competitive,” she said. “And it makes me see what I want to see out of myself. I’m happy I got to compete in four events this year considering last year I only competed in two.”

CAPTION: Madison Cuplin and her 2026 silver and gold medals from the horizontal jumps. Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography