UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- “He who chases two rabbits, gets none.”
Olympic hopeful Matt Baranoski had this proverb in mind when he made the decision to leave Penn State in the spring of 2014.
“For the past years the balance of being a full-time student and an elite athlete has weighed heavily on me,” Baranoski wrote in his blog. “With the conclusion of this semester at Penn State, I am done chasing two rabbits and am focusing solely on cycling.”
Baranoski, an electrical engineering undergraduate, is currently in the middle of a two-year leave of absence to train as a cyclist for the 2016 Summer Olympics.
The Schreyer Honors Scholar said he has been racing the track since he was 6 years old.
“It has always been my sport,” he said. “My older brother didn't like ‘normal’ sports and loved riding his bike, so my parents introduced us to the sport of cycling -- and more specifically track cycling.”
Baranoski, of Perkasie, Pennsylvania, began his college career at Penn State’s Lehigh Valley campus.
The decision was made easy by the campus’s historically great cycling team led by coach Jim Young -- a legend in collegiate cycling.
“I loved the Lehigh Valley campus and really wanted to go there,” Baranoski said. “I actually didn't even apply to University Park or really any other schools. It worked perfect for me to go there and train as well as race.”
He said balancing cycling and school became more difficult at University Park, however.
To make time for training, Baranoski was up at 6 every morning to get to the Rec Hall weight room as it opened. After a two-hour workout, his days were a blur of class, homework and bed by 10 every night to repeat the cycle.
The star cyclist knew it was necessary in order to achieve his dream.
“I don't really look at it as a struggle, but more of a sacrifice,” he said.
Now without the pressures of balancing school and cycling, Baranoski said it has been strange to be on a leave of absence after spending the majority of his life focused on academics.
However, getting to focus exclusively on racing is a dream come true for the 21-year-old.
“I have the rest of my life to work and be an engineer but this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I intend to make the most of it,” he wrote in his blog.
He is currently riding for a pro team and the US National team. In order to go to the Olympic games, he needs to qualify -- meaning he has to earn points at three World Cups and World Championships for two years prior to the games.
“We are now half way through that process,” Baranoski said. “Everything is looking really good and if the games were this summer, I would be qualified.”
This year he won bronze in the Cali World Cup and was the first American Sprint medal at a World Cup in over eight years.
In preparation for the Olympic Games, he will spend the next year competing in races around the world.
“It is a very long season and involves a ton of travel,” he said. “I spend more time on the road in foreign countries than I do at home.”
Although Baranoski had to put his academic career on hold to pursue his racing career, he plans to return and finish his degree in the fall of 2016. He will graduate in December 2016.
He credits the University for helping him pursue his goals.
“Penn State has been a huge help with my cycling career and allowing me an unheard of two-year leave of absence,” Baranoski said. “The EE department staff have been nothing but supportive with missing time.”
Baranoski will return to Penn State soon enough. In the meantime, he will continue to train hard for the games in Rio in the summer of 2016.
“It is a little crazy to believe I ride a bike with no brakes that can't coast at 50 mph on a track banked at 45 degrees,” he said. “But that is my life.”