Freshman Runner Matthew Neoporchuk: May Athlete Spotlight

For 19-year-old freshmen cross country and track runner, Matthew Neoporchuk, a sharp competitive edge keeps him ready for any challenge that may come his way.

Neoporchuk first started running competitively way back when he was in elementary school. Growing up through the public school system, Neoporchuk was like every other kid. “I always wanted to be the fastest runner in my grade,” Neoporchuk said. “So I would push myself in practices and through races to achieve that and [that work ethic] just stuck all the way till today.”

For a lot of people that is easier said than done, but as a multi-sport athlete, Neoporchuk has always had the ability to be the fastest guy in the room. As a basketball player primarily, Neoporchuk gained a lot of the qualities essential to cross country, like speed, athleticism, and most important, conditioning.

Unlike most people, Neoporchuk’s motivation to push himself on the track doesn’t come from any outside source. Instead, his motivation comes from within.

“I want to see the best version of myself,” Neoporchuk said. “I want to prove (to) myself that I can make it through the long grind.” To achieve this quality of his, Neoporchuk has taken a lot of inspiration from one of the most unlikely Olympic athletes, Nick Symmonds.

As a Division III college athlete at Willamette University, Symmonds is one of those guys who nobody expected would be where he is today. Through the adversity of being overlooked at first in a DIII program, Symmonds persisted and achieved his Olympic dreams and started his own company, Run Gum. “He came from a DIII college and made it to the Olympics.” Neoporchuk said. “That inspires me because he worked hard and always pursued his goals to become a better runner and a better CEO.”

Neoporchuk also understands that sports have more than just the power to entertain, but also to change lives. That is something he holds dearly when it comes to his choice of a favorite athlete, and when it comes to guys like Kevin Durant of the Golden State Warriors or Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks, there are no better humanitarian athletes.

“These athletes do a ton of charitable work to, not just help out their communities, but also around the world,” Neoporchuk said. “And they help in anyway they can.”

So far this season, Neoporchuk has thoroughly enjoyed the athletic connections he has made with his teammates. He gives them credit for always being there to push him through their workout both physically and mentally.

“Being on this team has changed me by making me mentally strong and able to always push through,” Neoporchuk said. “Same goes for classes, it gets tough but you have to push through.”

Despite his improvements thus far in the season, Neoporchuk recognizes that he still has a little ways to go to reach the goal he wants to beat. For him, the next step is improving his 800-meter time in track to 2:03 so that he can qualify for the Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC) league-wide meet. Once he does that, his only goal is to just give it his all at the NWACs and most importantly, just have fun with what he has done all his life. Neoperchuk was able to place first in two 8k races during the 2017 cross country season.

As a mechanical engineering student, you can imagine how hard it may be to balance sports and social life with his life in the books. Although he usually has plenty of time to rest after meets on the weekends, during the week is a different case. Considering his life in Cross Country and Track plus his commitment to his church, which he attends almost daily.

Neoporchuk usually doesn’t have much time for his studies until after 10 p.m. when he gets home from church and for his parents, the key to their support of his Track dreams is his studies. After Green River College, Neoporchuk hopes to transfer to University of Washington Seattle to pursue a career in mechanical engineering.