By Mike Gibson
For the Wire
Kevin
Caporiccio, who is working toward a degree in kinesiology at Temple University, was named the team’s MVP for two straight seasons.
A couple of years down the road, Kevin Caporiccio hopes to help athletes rehab their injuries.
Now, though, he’s concentrating on coming back strong after a few nagging injuries of his own.
Nothing serious, a hamstring here and a pulled muscle there, but Caporiccio’s spring season was shortened because of them.
In the meantime, he’s applying knowledge learned in a classroom setting to a more practical purpose. Caporiccio is going after a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology at Temple University.
When he’s not in the classroom, he’s putting a lot of that knowledge to good use by practicing it as one of the Owls’ best track and field athletes.
Kinesiology, also known as human kinetics, is the scientific study of human movement, addressing physiological, mechanical and psychological aspects of the body.
He competes in the high jump and the triple jump as well as the 300-meter dash, so he puts his mind and body through a pretty grueling routine.
By the time he gets out of Temple, the Council Rock South graduate from Holland will have both practical and theoretical experience he hopes to put to use by getting a job in the wide-open health care field.
“I want to get into mostly the exercise and science half of the [possible jobs],” he said. “There are a lot of jobs in clinics and hospitals and you get to help people rehab their injuries.”
Caporiccio knows all about rehabilitation.
He was only able to compete in three spring meets but his performances in the indoor season indicate a bright future during the next two years at Temple.
In the Jack Pyrah Invitational, Caporiccio finished first with a personal-best time of 41.11 in the open 300 on Dec. 2, 2012.
At the Gotham Invitational (held at the Manhattan Armory), his season-best marks in the high jump were 6–3 ¼ inches and triple jump (41–1).
“It’s tough to say, but I wasn’t able to compete in a whole lot of spring competitions because of the injuries, but I feel my best is ahead of me,” Caporiccio said. “I’m good now and I’m just working hard to get better. I’m really training as hard as I can.”
Caporiccio’s history at Council Rock South indicates that his ceiling is high in a number of events.
As a sophomore, he set the school record in the high jump in with a 6–6.
As a senior, he broke that mark with a 6–7.
For his efforts, he was named the team’s MVP for two straight seasons.
Perhaps one of the highlights of his high school career came during his senior year at the prestigious Viking Invitational at Perkiomen Valley when he beat Owen J. Roberts’ star Ryan Brumfield in the high jump with a 6–6 (Brumfield had a 6–5). Brumfield was not only a celebrated high jumper, but still holds the all-time career football yardage record as a running back for the Wildcats.
Brumfield was the state runner-up in the high jump as a junior.
Caporiccio then went on to finish third in the states, setting up a recruiting battle for him among East Stroudsburg University, Shippensburg University, West Chester University and Temple.
“I wanted to go Division I and that was the biggest factor in the decision to go to Temple,” he said. “I couldn’t be happier with the decision. You always want to test yourself against the best competition and I’m doing that here. “
While the football team and both the men’s and women’s basketball team have relatively new on-campus practice facilities, the track and field program operates out of more spartan facilities located in McGonigle Hall, a building built for basketball in 1969.
“It might not be up to the facilities of the other schools in the Atlantic 10, but it’s good enough,” Caporiccio said. “Even though we don’t have top facilities, we’ve got to work with what we have. We have a weight room at McGonigle. During the season, we work with the sprints on Mondays and Tuesday and do jumping drills on Wednesday and circuit training on Thursday and lifting in the morning on Fridays when we don’t have a meet.”
Just because it’s the off-season now, doesn’t mean Caporiccio is doing nothing.
He works out on a regular basis at Council Rock South “just about every other day,” he said.
Mike Gibson can be reached at gibmeister@yahoo.com
