Hundreds of heartbroken friends and family members paid tribute Tuesday to a popular co-ed track star who jumped to her death from a Philadelphia parking garage last week after cracking under the pressure of college expectations.
Madison Holleran, 19, was remembered as an outgoing, happy teen despite dark fears than haunted her in her final weeks.
“We have felt blessed to have in our family the gift of Madison. Her smile, her spirit her laughter, her kindness,” the distraught parents said in a note that was printed in a funeral program, that was also filled with pictures of Madison running track.
“Over these past days we’ve been reminded of just how many other lives she touched with those gifts.”
Madison, a University of Pennsylvania track star from New Jersey killed herself Friday by jumping from a Philadelphia parking garage because of the stress of her grades at her Ivy League school, her family said.
“We knew she needed help,” her father, James, told the Post in the hours after her death. “She knew she needed help. She had lost confidence in academics and she also lost confidence in her track abilities.”
The distraught dad said he had encouraged his daughter Friday to make an appointment with a therapist who could prescribe her anti-depressant medication.
Mourners packed the sanctuary at Guardian Angel Church in Allendale, NJ, where her casket was draped in ivory and scarlet red, the colors of her beloved Northern Highlands Regional High School.
And grieving friends and classmates nearly filled an overflow auditorium, where they watched the service on a large screen.
“She was beautiful inside and out,” said Jenni Steiger, 17.
“She was a beautiful human being,” said friend Andrew Somple, 16, whose sister was Madison’s high school teammate. “She was the type of person you could look up to. Someone like her only comes along once in a lifetime.”