Illinois Wesleyan senior track standout Maddison Zimmer (Delavan, Ill., Delavan HS) is the third member of her family to be a "Featured Titan", following her basketball-playing brothers Jordan and Brady.
She finished eighth in the 400 in the 2017 NCAA Division III Indoor Championships and was a two-time indoor All-American in 2016 for her second place finish in the 400 and being on the fifth place 4x400 relay team in the national finals. She was an indoor All-American in 2015 on the fifth-place 4x400 relay team and in 2014 she was an outdoor All-American on the sixth-place 4x400 relay team that placed sixth at the NCAA meet.
On seven occasions, she was named the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin "Women's Indoor Track Athlete of the Week"
Majoring in sociology at Illinois Wesleyan, she is the daughter of Doug and Beth Zimmer. Doug was once IWU record holder in 400 and was track MVP for three years in the 1980s. In addition, her uncle (Ron) and grandfather (Duane Sampen) were athletes at Illinois Wesleyan.
Why you chose to attend Illinois Wesleyan: I heard Trevor Seibring committed here.
IWU class you’re most qualified to teach: Jogging
The hardest challenge about being a Division III student-athlete is: Staying in Super 8s when we travel for meets
Worst grade in a class you ever got – what and when? C in U.S. Foreign Relations… thank goodness the professor was feeling generous
I’m deathly afraid of ... : ShoeTV
Worst habit: Biting my nails
Most expensive traffic ticket: $20 parking ticket
Language I’d like to learn: French
The longest I could survive without my cell phone: A week
One word your mother or father would use to describe you: Adventurous
Favorite sports figure: Dwyane Wade
My greatest moment in sports was: Winning the national championship at outdoor last year
The best player I ever faced was: The national champion in the 400 last year
Worst dresser on my team: Bryan Worby
Thing that’s been in my fridge the longest: Some nasty looking apples
Person I’m dying to have dinner with: George Lucas… for those of you who don’t know, he created "Star Wars"
Favorite food: Portillo’s jumbo hot dogs
Vegetable I won’t eat: Cabbage
Pepsi or Coke? Pepsi
Favorite TV show: "Seinfeld"
Favorite musical group: Lord Huron
Favorite movie: "Hitch"
If a movie were made of my life, I would like the following person to play me: Blake Lively
If my life were on TV as a reality show, I’d call it: "Making Mayhem with Maddison"
The person in history I would most like to meet is: Walt Disney
My dream job would be: World traveler
Place I’d most like to live: North Carolina
If you come back in another life, what would you like to return as: A panda. All they do is eat and sleep… my two favorite things.
Two things that are tops on my “bucket list”: 1. Travel through Europe 2. Skydive
My possession that would fetch the most on eBay: I don’t own anything too valuable.
Who is the luckiest person in the world? My parents
What I miss most about being in the third grade: Putting on puppet shows for my fellow classmates
