SPORTS

H

e’s been a national
champion with his
club soccer team and
a state champion with his high
school soccer team.
Now 17-year-old Troy
Athens High School senior
Ryan Gruca is looking for a
place to play college soccer.
He’s not worried about having
to earn a spot in that team’s
starting lineup.
“It’s OK if I don’t play right
away in college. I’ve been on
the bench a lot during my soc-
cer career and worked my way
into the starting lineup. I love
a challenge,” he said.
“Of course, if I’m at a col-
lege for three years and I’m
still not starting, that’s a dif-
ferent story. I may have to go
elsewhere,” he added with a
laugh.
Athens boys soccer coach
Todd Heugh said Gruca could
make an immediate impact in
a Division II, Division III or
NAIA program in college.
“Ryan hasn’t reached his full
potential as a soccer player,”
Heugh said.
Gruca is looking for what he
considers his best fit for soccer
and academics in college. He
plans to pursue athletic train-
ing for a career.
“I’d like to make a college
decision in the next month, in
time for the national signing
day in late February,” he said.
Gruca is a 5-foot-9,

170-pounder who can play
anywhere on the soccer field
... defense, midfield or for-
ward. But he’ll most likely play
forward in college.
“I played mostly forward in
high school, and I feel that’s
my best position,” he said. “I
also have the most fun playing
there.”
Gruca certainly had fun in
the summer of 2018, when
he helped his U15 Waza
Football Club nationals team
win a U.S. Youth Soccer
national championship in
Texas.
His fun was tempered a
bit by the weather in the
Lonestar State.
“It was very, very, very hot
down there,” Gruca said. “I
did a lot of sweating. I never
want to play in that kind of
weather again.”
Gruca also had fun in the
fall of 2019.
He scored two of Athens’
three goals in the second
and final overtime period in
the Red Hawks’ 4-1 win over
Traverse City West in the
Division 1 state champion-
ship game.
It was Athens’ first state
title since 1997, when the
Red Hawks ended a 16-year
stretch during which they
won five state champion-
ships.
Gruca’s goal with 7:20 left
in the second OT put the

Troy Athens senior Ryan Gruca sets
his sights on college, the next stop
on his soccer journey.

Two-Time
Champion

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

26 | JANUARY 13 • 2022

Troy Athens
soccer star Ryan
Gruca is all smiles
after scoring a
goal vs. Grand
Blanc this past
fall.

ATHENS BOOSTERS