This story originally appeared in the Fall 2025 edition of Hurricanes Magazine.

Editor’s note: Maddie Scheier finished the fall cross country season by recording the fourth-fastest time in program history in the 6K (20:42.37) at the NCAA South Regional Championships in November. She will return to action with Miami’s track and field team during the spring semester.

Maddie Scheier knew she could run – and run quickly – but for much of her childhood, she never imagined herself breaking records as a collegiate athlete – at least, not on the track.

Instead, Scheier dreamed of a college basketball career.

She began playing the sport at a young age, like her older sister, Callie and it didn’t take long for her to fall in love with the game.

As she gained more experience and spent more time on the court, she developed a skillset that, she hoped, would one day help her earn a scholarship.

Running was something she did in addition to basketball, a way to keep her conditioning up through the offseason. Even when she joined her high school track team and began competing as a runner, basketball remained her passion.

Then, during her junior year of high school, Scheier found herself at a crossroads.

She tore her ACL, and doctors presented her with two options: have surgery and miss between nine and 12 months of basketball or skip the surgery, rehab her knee and once cleared to return to action, focus solely on her future as a track and field athlete.

At a critical stage in the recruiting process, a decision had to be made.

“I had already started getting some interest from colleges for track, and I thought maybe I would have an opportunity to go to an even better school if I made the decision to run,” Scheier said. “It was kind of hard at that point to give up basketball, but I ended up not choosing surgery and I got back to running like three months later, I think.

“It was the perfect example of everything happening for a reason, because I never would’ve had the opportunity to come to a school like Miami if I hadn’t made the switch. … It took a big injury to get me to commit to running.”

That commitment has more than paid off.

Today, Scheier is a standout on both Miami’s cross country and track and field teams.

She had a record-breaking sophomore season that, in the fall, included her first win at the collegiate level when she posted a time of 17:44.22 in the 5K of the FAU Invitational.

She followed that in the spring by setting a new school record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Wake Forest Invitational with a time of 10:48.62. She also recorded the fourth-fastest time in program history in the 3,000-meter run when she posted a 9:50.33.

And as a new season of competition begins to heat up, Scheier is picking up right where she left off as a sophomore.

In September, she set a new Miami record in the 5K with a time of 17:04.48 at the Southern Showcase in Huntsville, Alabama and she she’s determined to keep growing – especially since she really only embraced running late in her high school career.

“I think what I’ve noticed is that because I started later, that now I’m seeing that big improvement that most girls might see in high school,” she said. “It just shows all the hard work from the past couple years, which is really exciting. The jump from my freshman year to sophomore year was huge and I was able to break a lot of records, which was fun. But it’s really meant a lot because I do work really hard and I sacrifice a lot of other things in order to be at my best. So, it’s really cool to see it all come through.”

For Scheier, competing at a high level is second nature.

It had to be, given her family.

Her father, Adam Scheier, is a veteran college football coach who is currently the special teams coordinator at UNLV. Her sister Callie is now an assistant coach and the director of player development for the women’s basketball team at High Point University, where she played and was a two-time conference champion. Sister Riley was a Sunsation at Miami before graduating and is now a cheerleader for the Philadelphia Eagles, while her younger brother, Brady, is taking a postgraduate year before playing football at Princeton.

Competition was always fierce in the Scheier home – but it always came with plenty of support, too.

That, Scheier says, pushed her to become the athlete she is today.

“I just think being around so many good examples and seeing what happens when you put your mind to something and you’re passionate about something, it created a sense of toughness in me,” Scheier said. “I learned how to battle adversity. And also, just having that support system was huge. They’re the ones that support me in every race. They text me good luck beforehand and watch all the races and everything. … It’s just cool having a group of people that I’m so close to that all understand what it means to be a serious athlete and we’re all able to support each other.”

As much as she has enjoyed competing for the Hurricanes, Scheier has been determined to make sure her entire Miami experience is a well-rounded one.

Earlier this year, she was one of 11 student-athletes honored at the Celebration of Women’s Athletics for her efforts in the classroom, in the community, and on the track. She is a member of Miami’s HER Leadership Academy and the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

An education major who aspires to be a special education teacher, Scheier also works with Special Olympics and is involved in Dream on 3, an organization which works to create memorable sports-related experiences for children and young adults with life-altering conditions.

For Scheier, being involved in the community is just another part of her Miami journey – one she is embracing to the fullest.

“I love being able to have an impact in the community, especially the special needs community,” Scheier said. “Dream on 3, and Special Olympics, that’s something I’m super passionate about that. And aside from that, I just want to be a leader and be someone that other athletes and younger generations can look up to.”

There’s no doubt that during her first two years at Miami, Scheier has made an impact.

She’s broken records. She’s excelled in the classroom. And she’s grown into her role as a leader, not only among her fellow student-athletes, but on Miami’s campus as a whole.

And she only wants to continue all of that during the latter part of her career.

“I hope for myself that I continue to improve athletically and be the best possible athlete I can be by the end of my time here,” Scheier said. “But more than that, I hope to kind of leave a little legacy. I know distance running hasn’t always been the best here in the past, so I hope that now, we’re trending forward, and I hope that once I leave here, I leave the team better than when I got here. And I just hope to, with all my teammates and everyone else that I’ve met here, to just keep making an impact and have people in my corner that I’ll now forever and be in touch with forever.”