Versatile Thompson Finds New Specialty in Steeplechase

Hockaday junior looks to defend her hurdling championship at Texas Relays

Margaret Thompson’s rapid rise to becoming the country’s fastest high school steeplechase athlete is as unique as the event itself.

Thompson and her Hockaday track and field teammates were competing at the Urschel Invitational meet at St. Mark’s last season, which had the combination of 2,000-meter distance running and wide hurdles — including a water jump — on its program. The sophomore urged coach LaBoris Bean to let her enter.

“I was pretty used to the distance, but I didn’t know how tired the jumping would make me,” Thompson said. “And the water jump is so different. It takes strategy. But it was fun, and there was no pressure.”

Not entirely sure what she was getting herself into, Thompson wound up crossing the finish line in second place behind only Morgan Lamberson, a former AAU Junior Olympic champion.

“Margaret did not warm up, and she ran in tennis shoes,” Bean said. “She was just pacing after this girl.”

A few weeks later, Thompson ran her second steeplechase at the prestigious Texas Relays in Austin, where her winning time of 7 minutes, 3 seconds was the best for any high school girl in the country last season.

“I just took what I learned from the first race,” Thompson said. “I didn’t need to prove myself or determine my future. I wasn’t nervous going into it.”

After Hockaday’s season ended, she added another gold medal against elite competition with a time of 7:05 at the TTFCA Meet of Champions in San Antonio.

“She ran those times without even knowing what it was about,” Bean said. “We knew Margaret had a lot of talent. There’s probably not an event that she couldn’t do. She shocked myself and herself, but then she shocked the world.”

Thompson comes from a distance-running family, including her parents plus two sisters competing at the college level.

“From a very young age, I would run with them,” she said. “I tend to excel at the longer distances.”

Thompson rarely runs the steeplechase because so few meets offer it. But she has continued to excel in cross country — including an SPC crown in 2021 — and more traditional track events (as a two-time defending SPC champ in the 3,200). She’s also on the Hockaday swimming team, which enables her to cross-train.

As she prepares to defend her Texas Relays steeplechase title in late March, she intends to take the same approach.

“I run better when I’m relaxed,” Thompson said. “I’m going to keep the mindset of just having fun with it.”