New Milford track and cross country standout Madelaine Sweeney commits to UConn
NEW MILFORD, Conn. — Green Wave cross country and track star Madelaine Sweeney has officially committed to the University of Connecticut following four years of running for New Milford.
Sweeney capped off an incredibly successful 2021 cross country season, in which she helped lead the school to its first Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Class L title since 1997, by committing to UConn to run at the Division I level down the road from her hometown.
“At the end, it was between UConn and BU,” Sweeney said. “I really had to think about it a lot and it was a hard decision, but I’m really happy with my decision and I really feel home at UConn.”
Since her start of high school, Sweeney has had the opportunity to learn from some incredible coaches with Giles Vaughan leading the girls cross country team and Michael Nahom coaching her on the track.
“So I have Coach Vaughan as my cross country coach and coach Mike as my track coach,” Sweeney said. “Both of them have had such an important role in getting me here because their training is really different, but it compliments each other, and I think it’s really important to have two different aspects of training spread throughout the year because then you’re not constantly working on one thing. It really helps you become a more balanced and well-rounded runner.”
Sweeney admitted that after a difficult first year of running at New Milford she was ready to give up. But her coaches, specifically Coach Vaughan pushed her to keep trying.
“Also, after my freshman year I had a really bad season during cross country and track, and I thought I was going to go back to soccer. Coach Vaughan was the one who convinced me to come back to cross country and give it one more shot. So, if it wasn’t for Coach Vaughan, I don’t know if I would’ve come back to running or not.”
Sweeney set her goals high early on, eyeing the chance to run at a Division I school. However, she had to work extremely hard to get her times to where they are today.
“I wanted to work really hard to get myself as close to running in college as possible, but I ended up completely exceeding my expectations of what I could do,” Sweeney said. “I kind of realized I could do it last February. Indoor season was canceled, and I went to Virginia to run a few unattached meets to see where I was and I ended up running 11:18 for a two-mile which was much faster than I thought I would. It was an amazing feeling.”
Sweeney has a love for the sport that’s unmatched by most and that’s going to follow her when she runs for UConn.
“Honestly, there are so many things I love about it,” Sweeney began. “I love just getting to run with my friends every day. Like even if it weren’t for the end result, I would still want to run with these people every day because it’s so much fun and it’s the best part of my day. At the same time, sometimes when you’re on a run in a race you get into this really good flow and it’s such a good feeling.”
As one of the top runners in Connecticut, Sweeney showed up when New Milford needed her most, coming in seventh at the CIAC Cross Country State Open and placing third to bring home the state title. Expect for her to do big things the next four years at the University of Connecticut.
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