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For Maggie life is a sprint, but more than athletics

By Marissa Carl

PSU College of Communications

Maggie Redden is not the stereotypical beauty queen, she's not the stereotypical philanthropist and she's not the stereotypical athlete - she's not the stereotypical anything.

But stereotypes mean nothing to Maggie, an orphan from India who contracted polio before turning a year old and has lived her life with no leg muscles. Maggie, without a second thought, has based her life on creating larger-than-life goals for herself and enriching the lives of others.


Her current aspiration: making the 2008 Beijing Paralympics track team.


Maggie first began running track when she was five years old and began taking the sport seriously when she got to high school. Since coming to Penn State as a media studies major five years ago, she has been vigorously training with Teri Jordan and the Ability Athletics program. Maggie currently works as a staff assistant for Penn State Athletics.

During the summer of 2007, Maggie went to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to compete with the senior national elite team in the Pan-American games and placed second in the 100- and 200-meter dash and fourth in the 400-meter run.

As she nears the June 2008 Paralympics trials in Tempe, Arizona, Maggie practices and lifts weights three times a week to build up her strength and endurance in hopes of again placing in the top three for her events.

When competing, Maggie is classified as T53 runner. Her classification is broken down into three components: 'T' is for track; the 50 category is to signify wheelchair athletes; and the 3 is Maggie's ability level. There are four possible ability levels; the '4' category includes wheelchair athletes with the most ability. Maggie personally has limited abdominal muscles and no leg muscles, and therefore competes with similarly disabled athletes.

Miesha Marzell, a Penn State graduate student training for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, has been training with Maggie for about two years.

"Maggie is a wonderful person, she is just all around a great individual," Marzell said. "I really enjoy her spirit and training with her."

However, Maggie's life as an athlete is only a fraction of her lifestyle. In her spare time, Maggie has become a certified ski instructor, a certified scuba diver, was a 2007 Miss New Jersey finalist, a Thon moraler for two years, spent two spring breaks painting orphanages in Tijuana, carried the Olympic torch, has performed in Carnegie Hall ... And the list goes on.

Although Maggie's dream of making the 2008 Paralympics team is yet to be determined, she realizes that track is just one more thing she loves in life.

"I don't see myself as a disadvantaged person," she said. "I just like helping other people."

Maggie is not a girl defined by her wheelchair, she's a girl defined by her heart.

UPDATE

Maggie Redden qualified for the U.S. 2008 Beijing Paralympics track team on June 15 in Tempe, Ariz. Redden will compete in the 100 meter, 200 meter, and 400 meter track events.

• View more work by Marissa Carl in her online portfolio.