Morette Shines at WPI Track Team

It was purely coincidental that Kyle Morette discovered he had a knack for track and field, but there was nothing accidental about the success he enjoyed in the sport soon after.

Morette, a 2008 graduate of in Shrewsbury and a current junior at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), discovered his track ability in gym class during his freshman year.

“I started track because of a broad jump that I did during gym class,” said Morette, a captain of WPI’s track and field team. “I don’t remember how long it was, but it was exceptionally long and the gym teacher thought it would be appropriate for me to go and meet the track coach.”

“To be honest, I never had any specific interest in track. I was introduced to [track coach Ed McGuinn] later that day, and things just took off from there,” he added.

Upon joining the Pioneers track and field team, Morette was a high jumper and long jumper in his freshman season and participated in both indoor and outdoor track.

Morette continued to participate in both for the remainder of his high school career, never once venturing into another sport such as cross country.

“I’m not really a distance guy,” Morette said. “I’m more of a sprinter.”

Thus, Morette began doing sprints in his sophomore season, running the 100-meter hurdles and the 200-meter dash. In his junior year, Morette also ran the 400-meter dash and took part in the 4x4 team relays.

“We actually had a very strong team, both my junior year and my senior year for 4x4,” he said.

As his high school track career progressed, Morette moved away from the jumps that had piqued his interest in the sport and began focusing on the sprint and pole vaulting.

Morette excelled at pole vaulting, which he seriously began practicing during his junior year.

His best vault during his high school career was 14 feet even. In the 200-meter dash, Morette’s personal-best time was 22.9 seconds, and his best 4x400 sprint was 50.1 seconds.

At WPI, Morette runs the 200- and 400-meter dashes, as well as the 4x4 relays, and continues to participate in pole vaulting.

This season, Morette had a personal record in the open 400-meter dash in indoor track, finishing in 49.6 seconds, which was 0.1 seconds off of the school record.

At the NEWMAC championship meet, Morette ran a personal-best in the 200-meter dash (22.6 seconds).

“That’s a little bit further off the WPI record, but I’d still like to get the record for that,” Morette said.

Morette hasn’t had a stellar year in pole vaulting, as he has been dealing with a hamstring injury that he suffered during his first meet of the indoor season. This season, Morette’s best distance in the pole vault is 14 foot 9 inches. His personal best is 15 foot 9 inches, a distance he obtained last season outdoors.

“I’ve always been a competitor as a track athlete, and my personal belief and one of the reasons I’m so fond of track is that it’s such a simple ‘put my best against somebody else’s best’ [mentality] and being able to say I ran better than you and we both gave our bests,” Morette said.

“My goal for every single meet is always to just give it 110 percent and try to break my personal records and do even better,” he said.

Morette is a true team player, as his coach inserts him into any event that he believes Morette can score the most points in.

“To be honest, the point aspect is never really on my mind,” Morette said. “I’m more of a competitor, I want to win my heats and along with that do my best as well, but I also want to beat the guy next to me.”

Naturally, there are differences between high school and college track, but Morette hasn’t noticed a major difference.

“There’s not really a night-and-day sort of difference,” he said. “To be honest, I really feel that college [track] was just a continuation of high school. I just kept progressing at the same pace I would have in high school.”

Regardless, Morette’s time at St. John’s helped prepare him for track at the collegiate level.

 “I definitely feel that competing at St. John’s has helped me in track, as well as the rest of my life,” Morette said. “It gave me a way to learn, how to focus and set goals for myself. Track specifically, you sort of have the tangible goals of times or you want to beat certain people.”

“I believe that my experiences at St. John’s, competing with my friends, my teammates, as well as coach McGuinn’s constant encouragement, have definitely helped in my career here at WPI,” he added.

Morette still stays in contact with his former teammates and coach McGuinn, as his younger brother is a junior at St. John’s and member of the Pioneers’ track team.

“I do get to see coach McGuinn every now and then if I have to drop my brother off at practice or if I go to St. John’s during breaks here at WPI,” Morette said.

Morette is a mechanical engineering major with a concentration in aeronautics at WPI, but he doesn’t intend to end his track career following his graduating from college.

“When I graduate from WPI, there’s no way that I’m leaving the track and field aspect of life,” Morette said. “It’s kind of a running joke now that, inevitably, at some point of my life I’m going to be a pole vaulting coach somewhere in Central Mass.”

Regardless of the career path Morette chooses, he will always be benefited by the life lessons he’s learned from track and field.

“The big thing that I’ve learned from track is that you can’t give up, no matter how hard it gets,” Morette said. “Life in general, you always have your ups and downs, but one thing that track has taught me through various injuries or a plateau in my track career is that you can’t give up on your goals.”

“You just have to keep trying your best, trying your hardest, give 110 percent, and be happy at the end of the day with the fact that you did give it your all and didn’t give up when things were looking grim,” he added.