April 22, 2015 By Justin St. Peter

Lexie Sondgeroth is used to success on the track, whether it be indoor or outdoor. The senior track athlete enters the final stretch of her career as a Warhawk with 13 All-American accolades and two national championships.

Fellow track teammate Justin Bowers said he knows why she succeeds.

“She is always putting in the work to get better and improve,” Bowers said. “She doesn’t like to settle for mediocrity.”

That attitude started at a young age as her parents pushed her to be involved in many things growing up. She joined track in middle school and went to many overnight middle school and high school track camps that allowed her to really practice her trade.

Sondgeroth started with the 100 and 200 meter dash and the long and high jump competitions. She moved onto the 400 meter dash in high school and participated in many relay events.

That was when UW-Whitewater came calling.

“A few of my friends were looking at Whitewater and were on the track team too,” Sondgeroth said. “I was actually looking at bigger D-1 schools at the time. I got in, looked at Whitewater and talked to Josh [Ireland who is the track and field recruiting coordinator].”

Following the conclusion of her prestigious high school track career which saw her set school records in the 100, 200, and 400 meter dash, long jump, the 4×100, 4×200 and 4×300 relay teams, she was mobbed by track coaches from across the country.

“When you walk off the track at high school state, they all literally attack you,” Sondgeroth said. “It’s like walking out of that fence and having five different coaches from different teams standing there trying to talk to you.”

Sondgeroth’s mind was made up though, and she was headed to UW-Whitewater.

Four years and two national championships later, she is headed into the home stretch of her career and is looked up to as a role model.

“Winning and getting all of the All-Americans pushes me even harder,” Sondgeroth said. “It shows me  that I have more potential than I actually thought I did. Just to see how little kids families’ say, ‘Oh you look up to me like a role model,’ which makes me motivated to even work harder just to show how successful you can be as a person on the track, in school, or in actual life.”

Sondgeroth has written her name in the UW-Whitewater record book in the 60 meter dash, 200 meter indoor and outdoor dash, 400 meter indoor and outdoor dash, indoor and outdoor long jump and was a part of the best 4×200 meter relay team.

Coach Mike Johnson said his favorite memory was when she won the 400 meter dash at the 2014 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

“It wasn’t the victory itself,” Johnson said via email. “It was the look of shock on her face as she crossed the finish line. It took a lot of convincing and even after Lexie agreed to shift her focus to the 400 [meter], I still don’t think she really knew the extent of her abilities until that moment. I will always remember that.”

Sondgeroth suffered a stress fracture in her leg which kept her out of most of this year’s indoor season from January to the beginning of March. When she qualified for nationals, she said she was just happy to be there.

Sondgeroth then won the indoor long jump national championship with a jump of 18-10.00.

“When I was jumping, I didn’t realize I was going to jump that well,” Sondgeroth said. “I have always wanted to win. That was my goal to win long jump as a national champion in college. It’s pretty exciting.”

Sondgeroth said she wants to bring her teammates along with her in one of the relays she competes in but has a main goal in mind.

“My number one dream for this would be to be a three crown title winner with a win in the 200, win in the 400, and win in the long jump,” Sondgeroth said. “It’s possible, but there is a lot things that I would have to do mentally to focus, especially from being hurt and getting back into it.”

Sondgeroth is extremely happy that she chose UW-Whitewater.

“We definitely have a very unique team,” Sondgeroth said. “I wouldn’t want to be on any other team. We push each other and want everyone to work harder which is what you want.”