A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction against a school district that will allow a wheelchair athlete to run at track events at the same time as her able-bodied teammates.

Tatyana McFadden, 16, won two medals at the 2004 Paralympics in Athens and is a student at Atholton High School in Columbia. The Howard County school system had allowed her to practice with the track team, but ruled she must compete in separate wheelchair events....on Monday, U.S. District Judge Andre M. Davis granted McFadden's request for a preliminary injunction against the school system, The (Baltimore) Daily Record reported.
...

Mark Blom, an attorney for the school system, said last month when the suit was filed that the system has worked extensively with McFadden to allow her to be a part of the team and to incorporate wheelchair events into track competitions, but is against merging the two types of events.

But Davis disagreed.

"The more I hear your argument, the more transparently arbitrary and capricious it becomes," the judge said to Blom and P. Tyson Bennett, who represented the Howard County Board of Education and the superintendent of the Howard County Public Schools. "She's not suing for blue ribbons, gold ribbons or money - she just wants to be out there when everyone else is out there."