MetroWest Daily News: It’s a Madden World - Milford Siblings Shine Across Various Sports at Bridgewater State

By Liam Gambon, The MetroWest Daily News

MILFORD, Mass. -- At five in the morning on a weekday this spring in Bridgewater, the sun still isn’t awake.

But Joey Madden is.

The freshman woke up to his early alarm often in his Bridgewater State University dorm room to go run for his school’s track team.

He also woke up his roommate, Tiago Filadelfo. The two not only room together, but they also play soccer together at BSU. In fact, they’ve played soccer together for 15 years.

The duo first met in the second grade as they were taught by the same elementary school teacher. They played soccer together for as long as they can remember and tore up the pitch at Milford High School.

Now, they play on the same field, again, and live in the same room.

When they’re not playing soccer together, it’s track season for Madden and those 5 a.m. alarms are going off.

When Filadelfo would hear the alarm go off before the track buses came, he would say, “Go get ’em.” Then, he would always check in throughout the day to see how his best friend was doing.

“Whenever his alarm woke me up, I knew I’d be able to fall back asleep right away,” Filadelfo said. “It gave me a chance to wish him good luck, though.”

There’s someone else at the school that Madden has known longer than his longtime soccer partner.

His older sister, Jenise Madden.

The Milford residents both compete for teams at BSU. Joey takes soccer and track, while Jenise runs full-time with cross country and track.

Jenise was at the school for three years before her brother was recruited. So, as the upper-classman, she knew quite a few people. Her friends became his friends and they all hung out after track practice.

And they hung out – all the time – on Fridays and Saturdays.

The two Madden siblings have stuck together outside of athletics, but always made time to catch each other in action during games and meets.

Joey struggled to catch Jenise’s cross-country meets due to his morning soccer practices, so he always checked the results and called her after her meets. During track though, he always watched her compete.

“It’s thrilling,” Joey said. “I love watching her compete and race.”

Jenise was named the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Rookie of the Year in 2016 for cross country and made the All-MASCAC team all four years. She was also a three-year captain.

When she wasn’t racking up medals, she was watching her brother play soccer at home games during the week.

“I would get a little loud sometimes, but I just love watching him thrive on the soccer field and I would get super excited,” Jenise said.

Joey started all 20 games for the Bears as a freshman last fall and led the team with five assists, which also stood for second in the MASCAC.

The two also held each other as their best competitor. When Joey won a race, Jenise felt that she had, too.

But well before all their accomplishments in college, the two grew up being coached by their grandfather, Ed Gagnon, whom they call “Pepe.” He coached them in basketball, a sport he played and has coached for over 52 years. Jenise was the starting freshman point guard for Milford High before dropping it to run year-round.

But he still had a profound impact.

“I owe a lot of my success to my Pepe,” Jenise said. “His support has helped me more than he probably knows. But it is support that I will always cherish.”

Like their parents, Michelle and Joe Madden, Gagnon came to as many basketball games, track meets and cross-country meets that he could attend.

For college, he lives just 35 minutes away from campus, so he made the trip often. He would be at the finish line or at the end of a game to go over whatever happened and remind them to keep on pushing.

“It was special because of the relationship between grandparent and grandchild,” Gagnon said. “Everybody should be a grandparent before they’re a parent because it makes you a better person.”

Now, with Jenise graduating from BSU, the two will not be attending school together for the first time since Milford High.

Or so it would seem.

Jenise will return to the school to earn her master’s degree and is contemplating returning to the outdoor track team for the 2021 season.

But, when the time finally comes, something will feel off for the two as they have always turned to one another when in need.

“Even though we are siblings, we’d still consider each other as some of our closest friends,” Joey said. “I think once we are not on campus together, it will just be weird to not have our main support system right around the corner.”