Junior Kyle Maruca transferred to Keene State because he envisioned himself improving upon his Track & Field skills as an Owl.
“When I was looking for a new team; I came here… it just felt like a better environment overall,” Maruca said.
Maruca began his Track & Field discus journey during high school as he used it as a way to continue keeping in shape during the football off-season.
“I’ve been doing it for eight years now… I started it because I didn’t want to do football conditioning in the off-season,” Maruca said. “… I turned out to be pretty okay at it so I kept with it.”
So far at KSC Maruca has placed and qualified for multiple competitions such as the DIII New England.
Additionally, Maruca won the Little East Conference (LEC) Men’s Outdoor Track & Field Championship on Saturday, April 29 and the LEC website states “Maruca has the top mark in the discus (44.10m) this season.”
Although Maruca has been making strides since becoming an Owl, he had to overcome setbacks and work around obstacles thrown his way.
“I’ve had two shoulder surgeries that have set me back, like six months a piece; I had one junior year of high school, and then last year when I got here I had my second one done, which made me miss last semester,” Maruca said.
Being an athlete that is passionate about his sport, Maruca had to look within himself to regain the strength needed to be able to throw again.
“A lot of mental health stuff was most important out of all of that; fighting the mental side of it was a lot harder than fighting the physical side,” Maruca said. “… You’re watching everyone go through the season and you [have to] wait all year for it.”
Coach Dan Roark said that Maruca’s injuries did not weaken him but instead turned him into the strong athlete he is today.
“Last spring, Kyle wasn’t on the team; he came to me at that time… he was like ‘“hey, I want to be on the team, I want to be a part of this”’ but wasn’t quite there yet,” Roark said. “… He has come a long way and Kyle’s definitely talented and willing to put in the work, but to come from injury to LEC champion is amazing.”
Roark described Maruca as a valuable athlete and a dependable leader for the other members of the team.
“Kyle is a great athlete as far as he’s a leader; he’s determined, he’s willing to put in the work and he’s invested himself to try to get better,” Roark said. “… Having Kyle as a leader and someone to set examples of how to achieve goals and how to [go about them] in the right way is something I really appreciate.”
Roark said that even though Maruca transferred to KSC to improve upon his skills, Maruca has the drive to achieve his goals anywhere.
“He transferred from Merrimack College, he was at a division one school… I think he brings that tone of it doesn’t matter if you’re division one or division three, if you know your sport, if you know you compete well, if you’re fast, you’re fast, or you throw far you throw far,” Roark said. “I think he really embodies that and wants to do as well as he possibly can… he really does a good job of setting the tone for our whole program.”
Nicole Dumont can be contacted at
ndumont@kscqequinox.com
