Road to Rio: Cyclist engineers his own plan

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Matt Baranoski's day starts well before most other Penn State students and it almost always ends with him in bed by 10 p.m.

The Penn State senior who would wake up around 5:30 a.m., head from his apartment to Rec Hall and work out for two or three hours before sitting in his electrical engineering classes all day admitted his strict schedule was a bit unusual.

But, Baranoski isn’t a typical college student. He will have quite the response next month when professors and classmates ask him how he spent his summer.



“I think Opening Ceremonies will be the coolest part and that will be when it really sinks in that we’re at the Olympics and that we did it,” said Baranoski, a track cyclist who will represent the U.S. in men’s keirin next month in Rio.

“One of my teammates on the national team who has been to the Olympics before told me that the coolest feeling in the world is representing your country and walking into that stadium and seeing that U.S. flag at Opening Ceremonies," he added. "He said that’s enough to make you want to dedicate four more years of your life just to have that again.”

And what a ride it’s been for the cyclist who turns 23 next week and who will graduate from Penn State in December with an electrical engineering degree and as part of the Schreyer Honors College. Baranoski was granted a two year leave of absence from Penn State in May of 2014 to pursue his cycling dream.

“Two years ago when I was deciding to take the time off from school it felt like two years was going to be forever, but it’s just flown by,” he said. “The whole time it was about what is the end goal and what’s going to be a successful two years? I said, ‘By Christmas of 2016 I want to be an Olympian and I want to have my degree.’ We’re really on track to do both.”

From the three-year-old boy at home in Perkasie who rode his tricycle around while his mother walked in the park every day, to the one who first pedaled around the track at the velodrome in Lehigh Valley at six years old, Baranoski’s path to Rio was a lifetime in the making.

The fast-paced keirin event, where a pace bike leads the cyclists around the track, but darts off toward the end of the race as the cyclists sprint to the finish, is one of four Olympic cycling disciplines. Road cycling, mountain bike and BMX join track cycling in the Games.

Baranoski started college at Penn State’s Lehigh Valley campus so he could live at home and compete for the campus’ cycling team, which is rich in history with coach Jim Young leading the program from 1985-2013. The program churned out numerous National Champions and Olympians. Cyclist Bobby Lea, a three-time Olympian who graduated from Penn State Lehigh Valley, is also among the 20 current or former Nittany Lion athletes participating in this summer's Olympics.

Baranoski then moved on to University Park after wrapping up his two years in Lehigh Valley, but with no track nearby he’d train every morning on his own in Rec Hall, sometimes returning at night after his homework was done for a second workout. The schedule, while hectic, didn’t earn him any special treatment from his engineering professors.

“I was able to do a couple trips when I was up there, but everything was still, ‘Your homework is still due on this day. I don’t care if you have to scan it and PDF it to me or shoot me pictures of it. Your homework is due,” he recalled. “It made me really have to juggle both things. … In the end I think it was better that way because it was a great learning experience.”

Due to the unique Olympic qualification process in cycling, where it doesn’t come down to one meet or one day of trials, but rather two years of world cups, world championships and continental championships, he was granted a two year leave of absence. In order to get to Rio he raced across the globe competing in 10 different events, including races in Colombia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, France and London.

“It’s a long, drawn-out process just to get a spot for your country,” he said.

He will return to Penn State a few days after wrapping up competition in the Olympics to finish his degree.

Baranoski is coached by his father, who jokes with his son that between training him and holding his own job as an engineer, he is accustomed to having two full-time jobs.

“We do a lot of the training where I live in Perkasie on a little back road and he drives the motorcycle and I’ll ride my bike and stuff like that,” Baranoski said. “We’ve kind of done it our own way this whole process and he’s been there and to have him there in Rio is going to be awesome.”

As for what happens after the Games end and once the degree is in hand, Baranoski is unsure what he’ll do next. He'd like to think his cycling experience and dealing with the ins and outs of chasing this dream -- despite cutting into his time and limiting his engineering experience outside of the classroom -- will certainly help him separate himself one day in the job market.

For now though, he's simply enjoying the ride.

“I’m definitely young enough to go in 2020, but it is one of those things where it’s four years out and I don’t think my cycling career is over by any means, but anything can happen,” he said. “I’m not going to put it on myself that life is a total failure if I’m not in Tokyo in 2020 or anything like that. With injury and crashes in our sport, anything can happen.”

TICKETS PUNCHED

The following athletes with ties to the region will represent their respective countries in the Summer Olympics:

Leah Smith, Mt. Lebanon, Oakland Catholic High School, U.S. women’s swimming

Amanda Polk, Bloomfield, Oakland Catholic High School, U.S. rowing

Christa Dietzen (Harmotto), Aliquippa, Hopewell High School, Penn State, U.S. women’s volleyball

Alisha Glass, Penn State, U.S. women’s volleyball

Meghan Klingenberg, Gibsonia, Pine-Richland High School, U.S. women’s soccer

Natalie Burton, West Virginia, Australia women’s basketball

Jessica O’Connell, West Virginia, Canada track & field

Yelena Leuchanka, West Virginia, Belarus women’s basketball

Max Holt, Penn State, U.S. men’s volleyball

Matt Anderson, Penn State, U.S. men’s volleyball

Aaron Russell, Penn State, U.S. men’s volleyball

Carlos Guerra, Penn State, Mexico men’s volleyball

Joe Kovacs, Penn State, U.S. men’s track & field

Darrell Hill, Penn State, U.S. men’s track & field

Ginny Thrasher, West Virginia, U.S. rifle

Kadeisha Buchanan, West Virginia, Canada women’s soccer

Ashley Lawrence, West Virginia, Canada women’s soccer

Sarah-Anne Brault, West Virginia, U.S. women’s track & field

Frank Molinaro, Penn State, U.S. wrestling

Daniel Gomez Tanamachi, Penn State, Mexico men’s fencing

Miles Chamley-Watson, Penn State, U.S. men’s fencing

Monica Aksamit, Penn State, U.S. women’s fencing

Katarzyna Trzopek, Penn State, U.S. women’s fencing

Shane Ryan, Penn State, Ireland men’s swimming

Alyssa Naeher, Penn State, U.S. women's soccer

Ali Krieger, Penn State, U.S. women's soccer

Bobby Lea, Penn State, U.S., men's cycling

Matt Baranoski, Penn State, U.S., men's cycling

Nicco Campriani, West Virginia, Italy rifle

Ziva Dvorsak, West Virginia, Slovenia rifle

Petra Zublasing, West Virginia, Italy rifle

Note: If you notice there are any local athletes who have or you believe may have qualified for Rio, please do not hesitate to contact us or mention them in the comments below. We don’t want to miss anyone.

"It’s amazing. This is something that I never, ever thought would happen, but I’ve been thinking about it the last decade or so," she said. "It’s very, very cool for it to all come together right now."

"It’s so cool. I saw Sarah-Anne when we competed in the Commonwealth Games in 2014. That was the first time since college that we’d competed at the same place," O'Connell said of Brault, who was her college roommate. "She’s one of my best friends, so being able to recreate that now is so exciting for me."

For O'Connell, competing in the Olympics is a dream come true. Being able to represent her country — and even West Virginia, she said — is an incredible thing for the 27-year-old runner. Growing up, O'Connell remembers watching the opening ceremonies on television and getting chills.

Unfortunately enough, though, O'Connell and Team Canada won't be partaking in those "draining" opening ceremonies because they'll be at another training camp in Brazil until their events begin. But she's ready for the emotions to hit once the day of her event comes.

"The Commonwealth Games was my first big stadium experience, and it was so loud. Everyone was on their feet and there was good energy. It was electric," she said. "It was overwhelming, so I’m happy that I’ve gone through that, but I imagine that the Olympics will be very fun."

FROM LANCE LYSOWSKI IN PITTSBURGH:

In case you missed our Road to Rio feature last week, I profiled Pitt women's basketball coach Suzie McConnell-Serio, who detailed her experience competing in the Olympics, where she won two medals, including gold in 1988.

McConnell-Serio, who guided the United States Under-18 women's basketball team to a gold medal this week at the FIBA Americas in Chile, started her coaching career at Oakland Catholic High School, where she won more than 300 games and three state titles.

The unique part of that stint building a WPIAL powerhouse: She actually coached an athlete who will compete in this year's Olympic Games in Rio, and that athlete is no longer a basketball player.

That would be Amanda Polk, who went from a post player in high school to an All-American rower at Notre Dame. Polk, a Bloomfield native and 2004 graduate of Oakland Catholic, was an alternate for the U.S. Rowing Olympic team in 2012 before earning a spot this time around.

The 29-year-old will be a member of the women's eight crew. Polk won gold in the eight at the World Rowing Championships in 2014 and 2015, and was a member of the crew that set a world record (5:54.16) at the 2013 World Rowing Cup 3.

So, what was McConnell-Serio's reaction when she heard her former player was headed to Rio? Well, I witnessed it firsthand. Broke the news to her at the end of of our conversation. Describing her response as thrilled would be an understatement.