FREMONT – With family, friends and coaches looking on, Matt Kuyken officially signed on to continue his running career at the collegiate level.
The Ross senior cross country/track runner signed a letter of intent to run at Malone University, an NCAA Division II program in Canton with a rich tradition of producing championship-caliber runners and teams.
“It’s really exciting,” Kuyken said. “I’m really happy to be committing to Malone and going there to such a great program and such a great coach.”
At Malone, Kuyken will run for Jack Hazen who has been coaching the program for more than half a century. His teams have won four men’s and one women’s national championships. Hazen was also an assistant coach for the 2012 USA Olympic team.
“I got the impression that we’re going to work hard and drop time like crazy and have a good time while doing it,” Kuyken said.
Ross coach John Elder said running for a coach like Hazen will be a natural fit for Kuyken.
“He’s very competitive and he’s very coachable,” Elder said. “He is one of the most coachable athletes I’ve ever had. He’s very open-minded to what you tell him.”
Kuyken will go to Malone having enjoyed a stellar career as a Little Giant. In cross country his personal best time was 16 minutes, 1 second and he also ran for the track team in the 200 (23.58 seconds), 400 (49.00), 800 (1:58.26) and 1600 (4:33.23).
He has earned five first team all-TRAC honors. He won regional championships in the 4×400 and 4×200 relay teams and was all-Ohio last year in the 4×400, helping his team to a third place finish at the state meet.
Kuyken has also excelled in the classroom as a six-time TRAC all-academic and three-time academic All-Ohio award-winner while sporting a 3.77 GPA.
Kuyken plans to study Zoology and Wildlife Biology.
“I love the school, in general,” he said. “They have a great program and major that I want to go into. I liked how small it was. On the running side, it’s the best (program) I came in content (with). It’s a great running school. I’m very excited to be there.”
Rich McGowan
Writer/Editor
RossSportsReport.com