'Nothing stops her': Notre Dame's Maddie Wilson sets sights on defending track and field para championships

WORCESTER — Maddie Wilson was 4 years old in 2013 when she spectated at the Boston Marathon for the first time, and, from mile 9 in Natick, she watched with awe as Tatyana McFadden and the other Para athletes whizzed past her in their wheelchairs.

“I thought, ‘I want to do this,’” Wilson recalled earlier this week. ‘“This is definitely something for me.’”

Wilson, who was born with spina bifida and is paralyzed from the upper thigh down, got her first race chair when she was 5½, competed in her first race when she was 6, and, at age 7, was the youngest competitor in the Falmouth Road Race field.

Wilson, a Spencer resident, is now a ninth-grader at Notre Dame Academy, where she is a star member of the indoor and outdoor track and field teams and NDA’s first Para athlete.

“Nothing stops her,” said Wilson’s seventh-grade teammate, Lily Longton.

On a scorching Wednesday afternoon, Wilson, Longton, and juniors Casey Bartley and Dara Smolkin-Boatwright, the Rebels’ middle distance/distance group, did their repeat sets of hundreds behind the school while singing a mashup of tunes ranging from country to pop to Disney.

“We love singing together,” Longton said. “We love to have fun. We love to have Maddie.”

This weekend, Wilson will look to defend her titles in the 800 and mile Para Wheelchair events at the MIAA Division 5 Outdoor Championships at Bridgewater State.

“Seeing her growth from last year has been unbelievable,” NDA coach Victoria Steffon said. “She is very strong, and also her confidence has continued to grow. It’s a really cool thing to witness.”

According to Joe Walsh, president of Adaptive Sports New England, Wilson is one of four Para athletes racing for their schools’ outdoor track and field teams in Massachusetts this spring.

During Notre Dame’s dual meet season, Wilson raced against other Para athletes and alongside runners in the 800, mile and 2 mile.

“Kids at other schools are so impressed,” Smolkin-Boatwright said. “We get to see this every day.”

In last year’s Division 5 state meet, Wilson’s winning time in the 800 was 2 minutes, 33.58 seconds, and in the mile, 5:13.73.

“It takes her about 200 meters to build up to top speed,” Steffon said, “but once she gets there, she’s a lightning bolt.”

Eighth-grader Hannah Somerset is one of Notre Dame’s sprinters.

“But if I did long distance,” Somerset said, “Maddie would easily beat me.”

In March, Wilson was the first female Para athlete to compete at the New Balance Nationals. She was the champion in the 800 at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston.

“Running alongside her pushed me to be better,” Bartley said, “especially with her kick at the end.”

For the last year or so, Wilson has been competing in a bright green race chair loaned to her by Achilles International, a global organization that transforms the lives of people with disabilities through athletic programs and social connections.

“Getting out there every day and working out and logging miles is key,” Wilson said, “and for me, being around a bunch of different runners is fun because they always cheer for me and motivate me.”

In 2013, McFadden, Wilson’s idol, went on to win her first of five Boston Marathon titles. Six years later, Wilson had the chance to train with McFadden, and in 2020, she worked out with U.S. Paralympic athlete Katrina Gerhard at the Natick High track.

Wilson’s favorite event is the 2 mile.

“I’m more of a distance person,” she said. “Since that first time I went to the Boston Marathon and saw all the wheelchairs, it inspired me to go a little longer.”

Wilson, who has Boston Marathon aspirations, will compete in the B.A.A. 10K in June and the Falmouth Road Race in August.

Also this summer, she will head to Alabama to compete with other wheelchair racers.

At this weekend’s state meet, wheelchair and running races of the same distance are considered two separate events, but if only one wheelchair racer is entered in an event, such as the 800, the wheelchair race may be conducted concurrently with one heat of the running race at the same distance, according to the MIAA’s website. In such races, the wheelchair racer is assigned lane 1 and runners to the other lanes.

“During (the high school season) it was really interesting to be out there with runners,” Wilson said. “You have to follow different safety precautions because you don’t want to take somebody out, but I feel like it’s good to do it with both (runners and wheelchairs) to get more experience.”

Steffon, a Wachusett Regional and Assumption graduate and former member of both schools’ track and field teams, is in her second season with the Rebels, and last year was the first time she coached a Para athlete.

For Steffon, working with Wilson has been enjoyable, educational and inspirational.

“It’s been awesome,” Steffon said. “It’s been a really wonderful thing to learn about and be involved in so many aspects of (Para athletics) and really be immersed in it. The No. 1 thing is the just the kindness shown, the support, even from other teams and coaches.

“Maddie is a great member of the team,” Steffon said. “She’s just one of the girls.”

—Contact Jennifer Toland at jennifer.toland@telegram.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @JenTolandTG.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Notre Dame's Wilson an inspiration as one of state's top para athletes