MIDDLESEX TWP — Medical school is in Mike Sybert's future.

The Middlesex Township resident and 2012 Penn State University graduate hopes a berth on the United States Senior National Taekwondo team is, as well.

Sybert, 22, placed second in the black belt sparring, middleweight division at the 37th annual National Collegiate Taekwondo Association Championships last month in Boston.

He lost twice to 6-foot-8 Phil Drake of Eastern Carolina in the double-elimination final round. Sybert stands 6-foot.

“He beat me pretty good in our first match, but I was leading in the second one when he caught me with a kick to the head,” Sybert said. “The height differential was hard to overcome.

“My leg kick barely got up past his waist. That makes it hard to score.”

Still, Sybert handily defeated opponents from Iowa State and UCLA by scores of 23-16 and 19-6, respectively, before losing in the finals. And Drake holds a spot on the national team.

“He broke his hand in our match,” Sybert said. “We were clenching, I was trying to make a point and his hand got jammed.

“When he was injured, I was kind of hoping to be able to take his spot (on the national team), but he's still there. I do want to compete for the national team eventually.”

Sybert graduated from Penn State this year with a degree in biology and is headed to Hershey Medical School in August. He is scheduled to have surgery May 21 to repair a torn tendon in his foot.

He has been competing with the injury for several weeks.

“I can't feel my big toe anymore,” Sybert said. “I've been taping my toes together so I can compete. Shooting for nationals is important to me. I grew up on this stuff.”

Sybert has been involved in taekwondo since he was a small child. He joined the PSU Martial Arts Club upon arriving at the school, was eventually elected president of the organization and helped increase its membership from 10 to 100.

This spring, he was named Penn State Club Sports Male Athlete of the Year.

The PSU Martial Arts Club was so intense and respectful in its training that it attracted the interest of Quyen V Phan, who is based in Washington D.C. and serves as an assistant coach on the U.S. team.

“I bumped into their team at a competition at UC-Davis in California,” Phan said. “Then we saw each other again at the National Capital Open and started to talk a bit.

“One thing led to another and they asked me to help train them. Those kids impressed me enough that I wanted to help.”

When Phan saw Sybert train and compete, he saw potential.

“The raw ability is there,” the coach said. “So is the passion for the sport. Strategy and technique are what he lacks.

“Mike grew up on contact, karate style. The WTF (World Taekwondo Federation) is more full contact. You're trying to knock the other guy out to win.”

Sybert described the training sessions with Phan as “brutal.”

“Clinics can be 12-hour days and he does six-hour training sessions. He's hard-core, but he knows what it takes,” Sybert said.

Sybert plans to continue expanding his sparring skills and competing while studying to become a doctor.

“If I push myself, I know I can do both,” he said. “There's a doctor on Trinidad's national team.

“But make no mistake ... medical school is my top priority now.”

Phan said numerous people in the medical profession have maintained taekwondo careers at the international level.

“In many ways, it's the education that motivates them,” he said. “Just balance the time.

“Mike can achieve what he wants to in this sport. It's up to him. There's no doubt in my mind he can develop into a top competitor on the international stage.”

Sybert admitted inherent dangers exist in black belt sparring. During the collegiate championships, one participant suffered a broken nose, another a torn MCL.

“I've met a lot of good people through this,” he said of taekwondo. “I like the sport aspect of Olympic-style sparring. It's such an acrobatic, fluid sport.

The springing and jumping are risky stuff. But the risk only adds to the sport for me.”