7th grader becomes world record holder with recent catch

(KNXV) - Sometimes the difference between a dream and a plan is writing it down. One girl from Arizona did exactly that and now she’s a world record holder.

“I like when there’s a bit of a challenge because then afterwards you can really feel you succeeded,” Madilyn Davis said.

Months ago, Madilyn’s sixth-grade class was asked to write down a few summer goals.

Most students picked things like reading a new book or trying a new sport.

But Madilyn went in another direction. Her two goals were to pet a capybara and become a world record holder.

Her mom, Audrey Davis, remembered reading the list and thinking, “like Madilyn, really?” And she honestly wasn’t sure which one sounded harder.

By spring, Davis had already finished her first goal. A trip to a petting zoo for a friend’s birthday checked that box.

“My friend found a petting zoo where they have capybaras and you can interact with them,” she said. “It almost felt like you were petting the end of a broom in a way.”

That left just one lofty goal remaining.

Fast forward to the Fourth of July when Madilyn and her dad Dillon Davis were fishing for muskie in Wisconsin.

With just a few casts left before heading back to Arizona, everything changed.

“So we were casting a couple more times and then all of a sudden I felt something really big,” Madilyn said.

“I looked over and her rod was just bent in half because of the weight of the fish,” her dad said.

A giant muskie hit the line.

Months later, after measurements, paperwork and official review, it was certified as a junior muskie-length world record.

And just like that, the now-seventh grader completed her ambitious list with months to spare.

“She just has such determination and she’s an example to me that nothing is impossible,” her mom said.

For Madilyn, the lesson isn’t really about fishing or capybaras.

It’s about writing down a dream big enough, even if people might laugh, and chasing it anyway.