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Paralympics: How a local runner found himself in the track and field competition in Rio

Kyle Wardwell does many of the same things he's always done after the starter's gun sounds.

Follow a plan. Keep a pace. Push to win.

But these days, the Norman native does all of that while tethered to another runner — a blind runner.

What started as a post-college whim has turned into an opportunity of a lifetime. Wardwell is in Rio where he and Ivonne Mosquera-Schmidt are readying to run the 1,500 meters at the Paralympic Games.

And they might just come home with medals.

"I'm not that great," Wardwell said. "It's really Ivonne.