Sonja Semling '25 Recruiting Profile

Hi, thank you for checking out my profile! 

In 2018, my dad, brother, and I began running together. A walk one day turned into a light jog the next and a true run after just a few weeks. My dad had run cross country in high school and was excited to start this new journey with my brother and I. We made a lot of improvement over the next year and were doing quite well leading into the summer before my 7th grade year. I was still a bit hesitant about joining cross country at first; my dad said I only needed to do it one year, but that I probably would not want to quit. I didn't really believe him and planned to join tennis the following year, but I decided that I had ran a lot over the year and would give it a try. On my first day of cross country practice and we were told to go for a light run. During that run, I experienced the most wonderful feeling of joy, peace, and belonging. It was as if the nature all around me was telling me that I was in the right place and that many great things were to come. I knew immediately that I would be doing this for the rest of my life and have never looked back since. To this day, that first run on the team has been a perfect description for running to me. When I run I feel at peace, connected with nature, and that I am where I belong. I am so grateful for every step and stride and am incredibly grateful that I have been blessed with the abilities and opportunities that I have and are presented to me. 

Mental toughness is critical to distance running and is something I have always prided myself in. I thrive on hills and love to challenge myself. I am the best hill runner on the team and since my first week of running ever, I have considered the hills as my friends. We do lots of hill-training as a team and as a family we enjoy finding the toughest hills to conquer in the cities surrounding us. Where others see pain and difficulty, I see opportunity to gain an advantage. When others are ready to quit and are mentally drained, I am able to find the next level and dig deeper. I have worked very hard over my running career and am excited to give everything that I have as I move into the future. Through my training, work ethic, and positive attitude, I have learned a lot about digging deep and getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. I continue to hone in on my strengths by pushing myself to my limits and embracing the challenges presented before me. 

The resilience and drive that I have in running, carries over into my academics. At school, I have always strived to be the best student that I can be. I work hard to reach my goals and understand the material at hand. I have successfully managed school, sports, and other activities in my schedule, understanding my limits, but also pushing myself to try new things and use my talents to contribute to my community. I love to volunteer when I have time and also have founded a club of my own at school. I always stay on top of things and make sure to communicate with my teachers and peers whenever I need. I really enjoy going to school and taking the opportunity to make the most of my education by working hard and learning all that I can. 

Living in Wisconsin and competing in Minnesota, and around the country, brings a diverse variety of weather and conditions. Compared to most other runners, I have noticed that I adapt very well to tough conditions and difficult situations. Mentally and physically, I am able to handle whatever comes at me as I race. An example of me battling through the heat was during my 8th grade outdoor track season when I was trying to qualify to state in the 3200. With only the top two places making it, I knew I had to beat a tough rival, one who I had never beat before and who had lots of experience of making it to state. It was a sweltering 99 degrees, so hot that the meet hosts had even put a water table out of the track where volunteers held out cups of water for racers to drink or splash onto themselves. I had prepared leading up to this race; visualizing every day, planning out splits, going over racing tactics, peaking at just the right time, and training in the heat so I could adapt more to it. When the gun went off, I didn't think about the heat at the start line. I grabbed water a couple times, on the 2nd and 6th laps, which I was appreciative to have, but I truly did not feel the extreme heat that day. I was so focused on my competitor as we battled back and forth. The first place girl was far ahead, as expected, but my competitor kept it close, as neither one of us was going to give up easily. When we were 1600 meters in, I made a surge, which was the last of her as my competitor that day or ever again. I took the second place spot with confidence, progressively adding to my lead with each lap. After the race, my dad asked me how I felt and how it was with the heat. I told him that I really had not felt the heat too much and that it really had not been that bad. I had taken my strength and used it to focus on on beating my competitor, rather than focusing on the conditions. Although my times were not the fast as I was hoping, after calculating what we assumed my time would have been with better conditions, we had realized I had run the best race of my life by far and would have reached my time goal with a cooler temperature. 

At the state meet that year, I competed in the 3200 on a Thursday, ran in the 4x800 on Friday, and did a local 5K road race on Saturday. This was the first of multiple times where I have raced multiple days in a row and have still reached my goals in each event. In those situations, I recovered through ice baths, epsom salt baths, shake out runs, stretching, rolling out, and mentally preparing myself. I have trained my body and mind to see all that it is capable of. Complaining is not an option that I permit myself to give into, as I know that I can handle much more than I know. My peers don't understand how I do it, but I love racing and find these multi-day competitions thrilling. 

Just like the heat, I will not let the cold or wind stop me. Our cross country section meets in October in Minnesota are notorious for almost always being dreary, rainy, windy, and cold. In 8th grade, the section conditions were made up of gray clouds, a cold temperature, and 20-30 mile per hour winds. It was tough and rough and was not the most pleasing experience for a spectator or athlete, but I did not let that stop me. I pushed through the tough winds, qualified for the state individually for the first time, and lead my team to a section championship. Again, in 9th grade, the section conditions were extremely rough with pouring rain, a muddy course, and cold wind. The course was so muddy that I even fell and slipped a couple yards down a hill. I bounced back up, found my pace, and won my first individual section title. 

Staying positive is important, as I lead my team through difficult practices and races. I have been the team leader since 9th grade and have been the head recruiter since 7th grade. I play many key leadership roles for my team and strive to be the best role model I can be. I organize practices, communicate with the team, and build relationships with each of my teammates, resulting in many new friends and also helps me know how to help them best. Kindness, excitement, and care for my team has always been a priority to me, as I try to be a light for the world and spread my love and goodness all around. I have grown very close with my teammates and am sad as I will be to no longer run with them each day after I graduate, but I can't wait to meet my new teammates in college. 

I want to run in college because I look forward to being surrounded with teammates, coaches, meets to compete at, goals to reach, and dreams to live out. I love running and want to be doing it for as long as possible. I see college competition as an opportunity for me to reach the next level, challenge myself in new ways, to learn, to grow, and be surrounded with another loving and like-minded community. 

I would like to break 20 minutes in the 6K in cross country, and improve in my track events as well. My goals at a Division I school would be a top 5 runner on a varsity team and finish in the top 10 team as a team at the national meet. My goals on a Division II or III team would be a #1 or #2 runner and reach the top 10 individually and as a team at the national meet. I want to reach my potential as a runner and am looking forward for all of the college running experience has to offer me!

Thank you so much for taking the time today to learn more about me and my running career! Reach out if you have any questions and enjoy the rest of your day!

Blessings,

Sonja Semling

For further reference, my family has a TikTok channel for running. It is @semling_running and a link to it is:

https://www.tiktok.com/tag/semlingrunning

My Instagram is @sonjasemling