McMaster's Superwoman

If McMaster held a contest for one of the most accomplished students to represent the Maroon and Grey’s athletics, then Maddy McDonald would definitely be in the running - if not take the whole prize.

McDonald, a second-year kinesiology student, has just finished a season that saw her qualify for the CIS track championships where she was ranked fifth overall in the 3000 m after an incredible races at McGill and Boston University. At the race in Boston, she ran to a ridiculously fast time of 9:34 - two seconds off of her personal best time of 9:32 that she ran this summer at the Junior National Track Championships.

She finished second overall at the Junior National Track Championships, which solidified her spot on the Junior National Canadian team, and to the Junior Pan Am Games. She finished with a silver in this race - and after winding down her summer track season, she immediately had to begin training for cross country.

“I took a little break after Pan Ams, but I think I raced on august 25th, and the first cross country race was in October so it was pretty quick,” said McDonald.

After a successful summer of extremely intense training and competition, McDonald had little time to rest before transitioning her training from shorter track intervals, to longer cross country intervals.

The incredibly intense training throughout the summer was hard for McDonald to bounce back from this season after minimal rest and recovery - but she still managed to perform incredibly well despite this, and she ran to some exceptionally fast times.

On top of her back-to-back seasons both in cross country and track, McDonald is extremely involved in the community. She was recently awarded the OUA community service award in cross country for her contributions as an executive for McMaster Athletes Care.

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“I’m the coordinator for the Boys and Girls Club, so that includes weekly visits on Tuesday nights, and we bring volunteer student-athletes to hang out with the kids,” said McDonald.

One of the events McDonald organized included the Boys and Girls cheerleading club performing their cheer routine during half-time at the Marauders women’s basketball game.

McDonald became interested in becoming more involved with the Boys and Girls club after volunteering there in first-year for McMaster Athletes Care.

“Some of the coordinators suggested that I apply for an exec position, and I wasn’t sure that I was going to get it, but I did get on, so that was pretty exciting. So now I’m in charge of that, and I really enjoy it,” said McDonald.

Along with her accomplishments on the track and within the community, McDonald is also an exceptional student, maintaining a stunning 11.3 average with a full course load.

Coach Schnurr describes McDonald as a “type A personality” and as a student athlete that excels from being really busy.

“She’s extremely committed and very, very, driven, and that translates in everything she does,” said Schnurr.

The hard-working, determined and self-driven qualities of individual sport athletes also tends to show in their performance in the class room, and McDonald is the perfect example of that.

“In individual sport, it takes a certain individual to excel and commit to doing what it takes, and I think you need to be a certain type of person that’s willing to take that on, and as a result, those people take on the same approach with everything they tend to do, and that’s why they’re so successful,” said Coach Schnurr.

Although McDonald is extremely successful in a range of different areas, she is still working on finding that perfect balance of athletics, academics and community service work.

This year has been a huge adjustment for the young athlete, especially after having a very long and extremely competitive first year, that saw her compete at the World Junior Cross country Championships in Poland just five months before she sported the Canadian singlet once again at Junior Pan Ams on the track.

“Coach Schnurr always nags me about over-committing myself in too many things, so I’m just working on finding the right balance so I could maximize each,” said McDonald.

“I think that’s just who Maddy Mcdonald is. When she takes something on, she does it 100 percent, she’s very committed, so when someone is like that, doing a lot of things, and trying to do them well, sometimes one of them might suffer a bit,” said Coach Schnurr.

In the latter part of the track season, McDonald’s time in the 3000 m got slower. But Schnurr believes that she still did well, especially given her other commitments outside of track.

“She was trying to do a lot and fit everything in, and sometimes things don’t go the way you want in all of them, she’s definitely worked through it, and I’m really impressed with how she did run despite all the other things she is involved in,” said Schnurr.

As of right now, the plan for McDonald is to go into the cross country season differently this year, with taking a bit of a rest so that she can be at her best shape in the fall.

“I think she’ll take a long break from competition, and I think once she takes her down-time and re-charges her battery, we’ll talk about what the best plan will be,” said Coach Schnurr.

McDonald has learned a lot this year in terms of managing all that she has going on, and after a summer season of consistent training, recovery, and rest from competition, there is no telling what kind of performances she can pull off both in cross country and track.

“I think there’s more in her, and I think she feels that there is too,” said Schnurr.

“This is a year that she has learned a little bit, and I think she can apply what she’s learned in the next few years while she’s here, and help her in reaching her goals, and that may very well be a podium position.”

After a season of highs and lows, for Maddy McDonald, one thing is for sure: She is an incredibly gifted athlete, and an incredibly gifted student. For this kind of high-performance individual, the sky is the limit.