Nobody is born to run.
Crawling is the way, at least at first. But occasionally, somebody is invited to run. The response, typically, is “No, thank you.”
For Madeline “Maddie” Grant, there was no saying no to her buddy, Cate O’Connor. Grant was a freshman on the Moanalua girls basketball team two years ago. The season was coming to a close when O’Connor, a 5-foot-9 post player, asked Grant, a 5-1 guard with 3-point range, to try out for track and field.
No one in the Grant family tree, including her parents, had specialized in running. Tim Grant played several sports, including basketball. Greta Grant also played a multitude of sports.
Turns out Maddie, the oldest of three children, is a natural at long-distance running.
“She has that grit and mindset,” said her mother, Greta. “The ability to focus and put everything into it.”
Longtime Moanalua assistant coach David Matsumoto had already seen Grant’s potential before she showed up at the school track.
“We first noticed her during basketball conditioning, how fast she was running, and we found out who she was,” he said. “We went to a couple of basketball games. Then she came to track and from there it was a quick learning curve.”
Grant is a quick learner. She has a 4.0 grade-point average, but it is her ability to remain calm, even solemn, and absorb the necessary knowledge to excel.
“Maddie was concentrating on JV (track), but I let her know her level would be varsity,” Matsumoto said.
Grant qualified for the state championships in the 3,000-meter run as a freshman. There was club basketball in the summer, then cross country for a first time. O’Connor didn’t need much to convince her pal to join up.
“Maddie was hesitant to join track at first because she was so focused on basketball, but she loves to compete, so it wasn’t too hard to convince her,” O’Connor recalled.
Cross country turned out to be sensational in the lowest of low-key ways for Grant.
“Cross country was definitely a different experience than track. It’s not as big,” she said.
Grant ascended week by week and at Patsy T. Mink Central Oahu Regional Park, in the 2023 Honolulu Marathon/HHSAA Cross Country State Championships, she placed fourth with a time of 20 minutes, 22 seconds. Not bad at all for a first-time cross country runner. After basketball season, she began training for track. At a running clinic, she suffered a fractured left wrist and a partially torn hamstring in an accident.
“I was walking across the track. They said it was clear to go and this guy, a blind para-Olympian, was doing practice drills. He ran me over and I landed weird on my hands. My leg got pulled a certain way,” Grant said.
Her second season of track was possibly done.
“I was out for most of the season. I would try and do some of the meets. I didn’t do too well when I was pushing myself when I shouldn’t have,” she said.
Matsumoto wasn’t certain what would happen.
“She’s so tiny. Once the cast came off, it was much better. She’s such a good athlete,” he said. “She battled through adversity. She was down and out, but she gets it done.”
Grant managed to qualify again for the state championships.
“I got my goal and placed at states. It wasn’t the time I hoped for,” she said of coming in seventh in 11 minutes, 11.84 seconds.
She enters the cross country season this fall still doing physical therapy for her hammy. She trains with the team, does PT and rides a stationary bike one day per week to keep the load off.
On a sunny Labor Day morning, the team gathered at 8 a.m. and went through warmup laps and stretching. Grant and her “bestie,” O’Connor, are in the middle of the scrum. Chatting. Laughing. Enjoying and embracing the ups, downs and all-arounds of life. Grant isn’t annoyed by her predicament. In her analysis, the comeback is about math, in a way. There’s no positive equation that involves frustration over the accident.
“I was never bitter about it. He didn’t mean to do it, obviously,” she said. “I’m like 70, 60%.”
She now has what is commonly referred to as “runner’s knee,” with both knees.
“I don’t know how I got it,” Grant said.
There is not much she doesn’t get. Engineers prevail within the family. Grant spent some time during the summer visiting her grandfather in Ohio, where he runs an engineering company.
“I really like math and physics. Everyone in my family does. Her parents earned degrees in engineering, but met when they were helicopter pilots in the Navy.
“I’m not that interested in aviation,” Grant said. “My dream school would probably be North Carolina State. They have the major (civil engineering) I want to take, and they have a good cross country and track program.”
The former helicopter pilot and father of three is now Cmdr. Timothy J. Grant.
“My hope is she is happy and that she knows love and shares it within her family, friends and community,” he said.
The high achievements in school and running keep Maddie Grant busy enough, but she always makes time for another passion.
“I like balloon twisting. I do this as a business. I do parties and custom orders,” she said. “My grandma does it for fun.”
Grandma Judy Grant has taken her balloons as far away as South America. She has been part of a medical mission since 2010, traveling each summer. This summer, Maddie went with her.
“It was fun. I was gone for about 10 days. We fly to Brazil, then we take a river boat into the central area and around to different villages. We give medicine and balloons. My job was to sort out the medicine and make balloons, and play soccer with the kids,” she said. “I didn’t expect it to be so eye-opening to see a whole different culture. No running water. No power. They don’t have all the technology, but they have iPhones.”
MADELINE ‘MADDIE’ GRANT
Junior; Moanalua cross country, basketball, track and field
Top 3 movies/shows
1. “Race”
“This guy was accepted into a college for running because he’s really fast. Other people wanted to look past that because of his color. He got to race at Ohio State and showed everyone how he could run. … He did go on to set records. They finally started accepting him more. Of course, some people didn’t.”
2. “Tangled”
“Rapunzel. It’s Disney animation.”
3. “Cool Runnings”
Top 3 foods/drinks
1. Watermelon
2. Body armor (banana strawberry)
3. Cherries
Top 3 homemade foods
1. Chicken and rice
“My mom (Greta) makes the chicken and my dad (Tim) makes the rice. It’s teriyaki chicken. They make it every single night. It’s mostly for me.
2. Pot roast
“My mom makes it every two months.”
3. Burrito
“Usually my dad makes the burritos with steak.”
Top 3 music artist:
1. Jason Aldean: “She’s Country”
2. Jon Pardi: “Dirt on my Boots”
3. Counting Crows: “Mr. Jones”
>> Favorite athlete/team: Quincy Wilson
“He’s a high school athlete who is the same grade as me. He went to the Olympics this year to run in the 4×400. It’s really inspiring because he’s so young. It shows no matter how young you are, you can achieve greatness.”
>> Funniest teammate: Cate O’Connor
“She’s my best friend, so we make a lot of jokes. She’s fun to be around, especially in cross country. It gets hard, so the light moments get you through it.”
>> Smartest teammate: Cate O’Connor
“She takes a lot of AP and honors classes, and she gets A’s in all of them.”
>> GPA: 4.0
“Between school and practice I do all my homework. Practice is usually at 4 p.m. Usually I’ve been like that. I didn’t really learn it. That’s just when I have free time. I think it’s just discipline.”
Favorite teacher: Ms. (Vanessa) Schlegel
“She’s my French teacher. This is my third year. She’s very friendly and very communicative. She doesn’t just give you the work. She really likes to bring everybody together. It’s visual, not just writing out or online. You do more speaking and use what you’ve been learning.”
Favorite class: Algebra II
“Mostly because I really like math and physics. Most of my family are engineers, so everyone likes math and physics. I like solving the problems and how all the forces work.”
>> College: “My dream school would probably be North Carolina State. They have the major I want to take (civil engineering) and they have a good cross country and track program. Both my grandpas are engineers and both my parents have engineering degrees.
>> Favorite motto/scripture: “If you don’t have confidence, you’ll always find a way not to win.” — Carl Lewis
Hidden talent: Balloon twisting
“I do this as a business. I do parties and custom orders. My grandma does it for fun. She’ll go on missionary trips and she’ll make balloons for the kids. I didn’t start my business until high school, but I have been doing balloons for family for quite a while.”
New life skill: “Learning to drive. I got my permit. I just need my behind-the-wheel hours.”
>> Bucket list: Greece with Cate
“ ‘Mamma Mia’ (the movie) was funny, so we thought it would be fun to go to Greece the summer before senior year.”
>> Time Machine: when and Where would you travel? I would go back in time to see Usain Bolt run his world record 100 meter race.
Youth sports: soccer, basketball, swimming, mountain biking
>> If you could go back in time, what would you tell your younger self? Take care of your bod — no injuries — and to have more confidence in yourself. I had confidence, but as I got more serious about my sports, I didn’t have as much confidence. I felt like I wasn’t good enough. I always wanted to be perfect. when I made a mistake, it was hard for me to accept that mistakes are a key to being successful.”
>> Shoutouts: “My parents, younger siblings Emma and Bodhi. My grammies: Judy (Grant), Becky (Perry) and Patty (Smart). My papas: Jim (Perry), Charlie (Grant) and Dave (Smart), and my Bestie Cate along with her family, the O’Connors.”
