Senior Darryl Whitney of the men’s track and field team has had an extremely successful athletic and academic career at USM.
Whitney, an exercise physiology major with a minor in biology, holds seven individual indoor/outdoor track and field records and shares two others. He has never seen his GPA fall below 3.9.
Whitney grew up in Durham, N.H. with two sisters and two brothers. After high school, Whitney attended Liberty College in Pennsylvania for one semester before transferring to USM.
“It’s been great. In track I have improved steadily over the past four years and have gotten to where I thought I never could be, and in school I have gotten all A’s,” Whitney said.
Of the past four seasons running cross-country and track and field during the winter and spring, Whitney said this is his best season. “I was determined to get in and made the national qualifier where I received a free five-day trip to Indiana to compete.”
Whitney juggles an extremely busy schedule. Each week he interns 30 hours; works 30 hours for a local pizza joint; has a full schedule of classes on Friday, his only day of classes; and runs meets on Saturday.
On Sundays, his one day off, Whitney is out doing his daily running schedule and catching up on homework and says he is able to rest.
Running both the indoor and outdoor schedules, Whitney said he prefers the indoor season the best. ”
It’s the longest season. We have 10 meets where it is controlled,” Whitney said. “In outdoors, I feel like I am running in the middle of nowhere and I just can’t go fast.”
Aspirations of coaching aren’t out of the realm of possibilities for Whitney. “Eventually I will coach probably at the college level but first want to work in my field for a while and then coach somewhere later,” said Whitney. “My dream job would be to coach at an Olympic training center working with athletes.”
On Aug. 2 Whitney and his long-time girlfriend, Monica Costa, will be married. Costa has been a strong source of inspiration to Whitney. “She has given me more structure and a reason to try harder,” said Whitney.
After their honeymoon, the Whitneys plan to move to Vancouver, British Columbia, where Whitney wants to complete a master’s degree at Simon Fraser University while Costa finishes her college degree. Whitney also plans to continue his track and field career by running for the B.C. Athletics Running Club.