Wisconsin State Champ Sandvig Represents Hometown With Pride

MileSplit Featured

Ashley Tysiac

Jul 21, 2022

* Brooklyn Sandvig of Chippewa Falls (WI) defends her Division I state title in the 400m in June.

Photo Credit: Elizabeth Schreiber/MileSplit Wisconsin

"You have to have a good, strong mentality, and I'm glad I stuck with it. I'm glad I've worked through having the mental mindset to keep racing."

By Ashley Tysiac -- MileSplit

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In the small, northwest Wisconsin town of Chippewa Falls, Brooklyn Sandvig earns high praise as "the" local high school talent.

When Sandvig travels to track meets across the state and country, her mother's work colleagues plaster the walls of their office building with cutely-crafted motivational posters and fun photos of Sandvig, all signed with words of encouragement.

When she completed the sprint trifecta by winning WIAA Division I state titles in the 100m, 200m and 400m this outdoor season, members of the community even went as far as to host a modest parade in Sandvig's honor.

It's that kind of support that Sandvig says surpasses any other attention or acclaim she receives.

"It definitely is a good boost of, 'OK, I did something great and everyone is cheering for me,'" Sandvig said.

As a rising Chippewa Falls senior, Sandvig has certainly begun to receive attention from outside of her hometown.

With four state titles to her name and personal bests in the 100m, 200m, 400m and long jump that rank among the top 80 female high schoolers in the nation this season, one could rightfully deem her the sport's next up-and-coming sprint star.

In just a few days, Brooklyn will head south to Greensboro, North Carolina for just her second-ever AAU Junior Olympic Games. But perhaps moreover, she will be energized by those beloved handmade posters and the local pride that will follow her.

Of course, becoming a hometown star didn't happen overnight.

Frankly, Sandvig said, it took maturity and experience to become a four-time state champion, school record holder and one of the best sprinters in the country.

"You have to have a good, strong mentality, and I'm glad I stuck with it," she said. "I'm glad I've worked through having the mental mindset to keep racing."

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Sandvig took an unorthodox route to finding her niche in running -- it didn't begin with anything close to resembling sprinting. Sandvig first found her way into the sport on the cross country course as a sixth-grader.

So when seventh grade came along, Sandvig scoped out events she thought most closely aligned with her bit of distance background. That led her to the 400m.

Though nowhere near a typically-considered distance event, the one-lap race seemed to be the perfect fit for the track newbie, according to Sandvig.

After her first high school track and field season fell victim to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Sandvig finally got to put her 400m skills to the test against Wisconsin's best at her first Division I state championship as a sophomore in 2021.

It was an exciting moment, filled with hugs and shared with all of her family members. There were gifts of balloons and posters to mark the monumental occasion.

Out on the track, the exhilarating moment unfolded in almost movie-like fashion.

The underclassman found herself out ahead of the field into the final straightaway, and she dove across the finish line for the win in what appeared to be a limit-pushing effort. Sandvig said she laid with her face planted on the track for more than a few seconds as she struggled to catch her breath.

But the drama and joys of that race aside, Sandvig said it's rather funny looking back at the sophomore racer she was just a year ago.

She said she used to sport a trademark tense face and grimace, coupled with less-than-optimal posture. Her mind sometimes moved faster than her body, hence the sophomore year championship-winning moment marked by a less-than-graceful fall across the finish in the 400m.

"I didn't have really good control over my running my sophomore year quite as much as I do now," she said.

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A post shared by Brooklyn Sandvig (@brooklynsandvig_33)

She was already a state champion, but with the realization that she had some technical work to achieve, Sandvig said she couldn't sit back and refuse to change.

Along came the summer before her junior year, and with it came her first endeavors in AAU summer track and year-round training.

Sandvig said in order to successfully defend her state title as a junior -- and find steady improvement -- she had to evolve from a tense racer to a controlled one.

"Throughout the summer, once I realized how to finally run correctly, the times started dropping," Sandvig said.

That meant trading in her signature race face and posture for a look of composure and relaxation.

Now, she said, she feels smooth, composed and comfortable as she shoots out of the blocks and rounds the track.

Now, the results of her summer efforts didn't show on the track immediately. At her first AAU Junior Olympic Games in 2021, she failed to qualify out of the preliminary rounds in the 15-16-year-old 100m and 200m.

Slowly but surely, however, the junior saw her times drop and her confidence skyrocket.

Over the last year, Sandvig has dropped her personal bests from 12.01 to 11.63 in the 100m, 25.00 to 23.97 in the 200m and 55.70 to 54.59 in her signature 400m event.

When it came time in June to defend her 400m state title as a junior -- as well as go for wins in the 100m, 200m and long jump -- Sandvig said she no longer felt content with simply making the start list.

Why not go for it all?

"I definitely prepared myself with the mindset that I was going to win these," she said. "It gave me a big confidence boost, just having my mental game strong for those races."

Those large improvement margins come from the learned physical and mental alone, according to Sandvig.

Now heading toward her second AAU Junior Olympic Games, Sandvig will likely prepare no differently than she has for each meet over the past year.

"I definitely prepared myself with the mindset that I was going to win these. It gave me a big confidence boost, just having my mental game strong for those races."

She failed to make it out of the 100m and 200m prelims in Houston last year.

This go around, however, she will take to the 17-18-year-old division as one of the top seeds in both short sprint competitions. She holds the second- and fourth-fastest seed times in the 100m and 200m, putting her in contention for a national title sweep in the sprints.

But it's not always about clocking new personal bests.

With the Junior Olympics, Sandvig relishes interacting with old teammates and new competitors outside of small town Chippewa Falls.

She recalls the small ping of disappointment that came with failing to advance through the rounds in the 100m and 200m in 2021. But Sandvig said she remembers the moments of the track much more fondly.

Sandvig laughs when looking back at that first go at the AAU Junior Olympics, sweating in the Houston heat with her Wisconsin-born teammates. Her and other Milwaukee Mustangs athletes spent the week-long event sharing a handheld, battery-powered fan in order to get some sort of comfort, even though Sandvig said it probably didn't give much relief in reality.

She said she's a person who always pushes herself to question what's next, whether it be clocking new personal goals or setting in the blocks surrounded by new faces.

But at the root of that determination remains a growing athlete that finds joy in competing across the country with teammates -- even if it means sweating profusely in unusual heat -- and making Chippewa Falls supporters proud.

The 2022 AAU Junior Olympic Games could mark the beginning of Sandvig's national breakthrough.

But as of now, she just hopes to make her hometown proud and wants to embrace the racing experiences that come with it.

"Last year (at the Junior Olympics), it was crazy just because I was new to everything. The stands were huge, there were people cheering for everything," she said. "This year, I'm excited to go there and feel that type of energy again."