A Look Inside- Illinois Wheelchair Track
The University of Illinois has been a pioneer in the establishment of collegiate wheelchair athletics. Disability athletics at Illinois is nationally well-known as one of the most prestigious programs in the country.
The wheelchair track team is arguably the Illini’s most renowned program.
In both the 2008 Beijing Paralympics and the 2011 World Championships, Illini athletes won nearly half of all the medals won by the U.S. Track and Field team. With a fourteen-man roster including both men and women, Illinois has produced some of the world’s top wheelchair track competitors — most notably is Tatyana McFadden.
Tatyana made her Paralympic debut when she was 15 as the youngest member of Team USA. She returned home from Athens in 2004 with two medals and has been virtually unstoppable ever since. She added a combined eight medals in Beijing and London, in 2008 and 2012, respectively.
Originally from Russia before she was adopted and brought to Clarksville, Maryland, Tatyana joined Adam Bleakley and the Illinois Wheelchair Track team before graduating in 2014 with a degree in ACES Human Development and Family Services. Tatyana has become a force in the wheelchair track industry. She was the first athlete, abled or disabled, to complete the marathon Grand Slam with wins in London, Chicago, New York and Boston in 2013. She repeated the feat in 2014 and again in 2015.
Tatyana still attends classes at the University while she works toward her masters. Her sister Hannah, who was also adopted, is a sophomore at Illinois. She is in the beginning stages of following in her sister’s footsteps.
Hannah was the youngest member of the 2012 Paralympic Track and Field team. She is a member of the wheelchair track team at Illinois and continues to compete in races all over the world at the same time, while she is a full-time student.
Bleakley, who has coached the Illini for about six years, and his team works outs every morning in the basement of the Disability Resources and Educational Services building located at the corner of Oak Street and Stadium Drive in Champaign.
Many disabled athletes have said that the University of Illinois is a common top choice among disabled athletes given the prestigious reputation of the disabled athletics program in addition to the accommodating campus and how easy it is to get around. Academics also play a big role.
Kelsey Lefevour have worked closely as a teacher’s assistant as she works toward her masters in AHS Sports Management. It is a common trait amongst Illinois’ disabled athletes to be involved with not only their teams but their academics as well.
Though Bleakley runs the team as a whole, each individual athlete usually competes at individual competitions. Hannah McFadden just came back to campus after she spent about two weeks in Europe competing for herself. Senior Aaron Pike is the most recent Illini to compete on behalf of the University. He competed at the Mahomet Half-Marathon in August.
Though recruitment is not as major of a process at it is in college able-bodied sports, Illinois continues to attract the nation’s top competitors. This, and its reputable past, contributes to the long line of success Bleakley will likely continue to produce.
