For many athletes, loyalty and perseverance will pay off in due time, and for sixth-year Matt Santy, his time at the University of Rhode Island has been nothing short of successful.
Spending his final year of eligibility at URI, Santy has been dominant ever since he set foot in Kingston back in 2020.
In his first indoor and outdoor seasons with the program, he won the high jump in two separate meets against Northeastern University and University of Massachusetts Lowell, and also won the high jump at the New England Outdoor Track and Field Championship.
Doing all of this as a first-year, Santy’s URI career was off to a great start, but it took an unexpected turn after suffering a season-ending torn labrum before the 2021-22 season.
“It was the biggest injury I’ve ever had in my life,” Santy said. “Coming back from that was very difficult–having to relearn to run, relearn to walk and relearn to train and be a confident athlete again. There were a lot of self-doubt concerns that maybe I’ve done the best I was ever gonna do, and I felt I lost a lot of confidence in myself.”
After hitting one of the lowest points of his athletic career, Santy knew he had some choices to make that would determine his future as a track and field athlete at URI.
“Going into the off-season after that, it was make-or-break,” Santy said. “I could either double down and work harder and try to become the best version of myself, or I could just be content with it. When nobody was watching, it paid off, but even though I’m way further from where I was four or five years ago, I still feel like I haven’t become the best version of myself yet.”
Santy ultimately made the right decision, as he helped the Rams win six consecutive indoor championships, along with etching his name into the Rhody record book for the long jump.
“It’s definitely very special to have been here for all of that,” Santy said. “You get to see the program evolve, see new faces come through, and see the coaching change from [John] Copeland to Trent [Baltzell]. To see how individual athletes develop and the culture as a team grow, it’s been very special, and I take a lot of pride in it.”
Not only has Santy contributed greatly to the success of the program, but he has also made a significant impact on his teammates.
“As vicious as he is as a competitor, he does absolutely want his teammates to do well,” Rhode Island Head Coach Trent Baltzell said. “His knowledge of the sport is so great, and he’s absolutely willing to use his knowledge in ways that’ll help his teammates, so he is quite a great leader.”
For Baltzell, Santy has also been a pleasure to coach.
“He’ll just push himself too far sometimes, but those are the types of athletes that you want to coach,” Baltzell said. “You want to coach the athletes that desire to reach their very top level, and at important times, I do appreciate his relentless attitude. At the end of the day, he is building one heck of a URI resume.”
With Santy’s last outdoor season at URI approaching, he has set some reasonable goals to close out his collegiate career the right way.
“A saying I’ve had since high school is ‘set the bar higher,’” Santy said. “Obviously, you can have super high expectations for yourself, but you never go into a high jump meet putting the bar at the world record. So right now, I want to get my regional qualifying marks, and then from there, I’ll set the bar a little higher, and then I’ll approach it again.”
Santy and the Rams look to continue their outdoor season in the Jaylin Rainford Invitational on Friday and Saturday.
