Danbury three-sport standout leaves athletics behind to pursue academic dreams

Maria Maringer hasn’t even started college yet.

The Danbury graduate already knows how invaluable networking can be in the professional world. First, she squeezed as much out of her athletic career in high school as she could.

One of the stories in the Michael K. Bosi athlete of the year series, she spearheaded the Lakers' first trip to regional for basketball and established a program record for track. She earned four letters each for basketball, track and cross country.

“I knew one girl with 16 letters when I was a sophomore,” Maringer said. “Twelve letters shows that coaches believed in us. Maybe it’s harder to letter as a freshman at other schools, but Danbury coaches foster a supportive atmosphere for us to perform at the varsity level.”

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They also planted a different kind of seed for her future. Middle school basketball coach Dan Humphrey suggested the university in South Bend might be a perfect fit.

“I’m kind of a nerd; I love school and learning,” Maringer said. “He’s a huge Notre Dame fan. When I was in the seventh grade, he saw I loved school and wanted to continue my academic journey. He said, ’Hey Maria, have you thought of Notre Dame?’

"He's one of the main reasons I chose Notre Dame, his belief in me. Having him as a rock influenced my choice.”

She plans to study applied and computational mathematics and statistics, along with actuarial science.

“Now that I’m done with high school, I’m excited to head to Notre Dame and start the next journey,” she said. "I’ve always been impressed with the academic programs and student connections with alumni.

"The Notre Dame community is tight knit.”

Maringer can hardly wait to be part of it.

“The campus is beautiful, whenever I’ve toured, I love it there,” Maringer said. “It’s such a good environment. There’s a huge academic side, but they’re also known for some of their sports. I’m excited to watch those games. It’s not as big as people think – 9,000 underclassmen – it’s cool a school that size does both athletics and education.”

Maringer surpassed 1,000 career points as a senior.

“That was a cool experience to be able to accomplish that, but it wouldn’t have been possible without so much that was going right; unselfish teammates and coaches who believed in me," she said.

In addition to the district championship as a senior, Danbury basketball won a game at district for the first time the year before.

“That was a super cool atmosphere with my friends on the court,” Maringer said. “I’ll remember that forever. How supportive the community was; all the teachers were proud. That was special.”

Competing among 10 Lakers at state for track as a senior was special as well.

“Coach Tim Heffernan brought back a winning mentality,” Maringer said. “He’s coached a ton of sports at tons of places, and he knows how to cultivate a winning attitude. He believed in us; he pushed us not to settle and to push our dreams higher.

“I don’t think we’ve sent that many down, ever. It was great to see we could make it to that level with a great group. The pressure is off, and you can show people what we’re made of on the biggest stage.”

Maringer was on a 4x800 relay that finished 10th at state. She was part of a 4x200 that qualified as well.

“If you work hard, it can pay off,” she said. “That was rewarding. I love relays, competing with three other girls on the line to succeed, too. It pushes us in ways we didn’t know possible if we ran the event alone.”

Maringer sometimes ran the 100 and 3,200 in the same day, before finding her niche in the 800. She established a program record at 2:20.37 and finished fifth at regional.

“I set my sights on that a long time ago,” she said. “(Assistant coach) Dan Rinaldo set his sight on that record, and I realized it was achievable. He trained me for the 800. As a junior, my PR was less than one second away.

“Senior year it was something I definitely had my eyes on. I did everything in the offseason to prepare for the best shape I could.”

However, she was 12 seconds slower in the first meet than she'd left off as a junior.

Things changed quickly when she competed in a tri-meet at Lakota with only five runners, and she topped the record for the first time. She topped her own mark two more times.

"I didn’t do it as much as I’d like, but it was great to break the record," she said. "I broke it again at Oak Harbor, the Ottawa County Meet. The last time was SBCs.”

Maringer credits a Woodmore runner with some of her success.

“Emma Hammer helped pull me to the record,” Maringer said of Hammer’s 2:19.77 to finish first in the SBC. “She’s so fast, and I have so much respect for her being out front, someone to chase. That was an important part of getting the record.”

Maringer will miss her sports, although she plans to run or play for a club team if it works.

“Sports were a big part of who I was,” she said. “It was definitely a difficult choice; I was torn. To an extent, my identity almost was wrapped in sports – I lived for the next practice – I valued athletics through high school.

“When I made my choice, I knew it would be fun to keep playing, and I respect the athletes when they continue doing something they love. I did consider it, but I realized Notre Dame would provide me with the best network for jobs, and I made the choice to follow academic desires.”

mhorn@gannett.com

419-307-4892

X: @MatthewHornNH

This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Danbury three-sport standout leaves athletics behind to pursue academic dreams