Aurora University women's wrestling star Lexi Janiak helping shine spotlight on emerging sport
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Aurora University women's wrestling, now in the fourth year of the program, has seen a steady increase in numbers and success, with four of their five All-Americans from last year returning.
That includes Plainfield South grad Lexi Janiak, whose talent is helping shine a light on an emerging college sport.
"She's definitely a pioneer, not for just the state of Illinois, but for our program," said Aurora University women's wrestling coach Justin Pearch.
Lexi was introduced to wrestling at an early age through her younger brother, Matthew.
"I would go to all the tournaments, all the practices, and then one day I just asked my dad, I was like, 'I want to do that, too,' and I've always had that competitive spirit, where it was like I wanted to be better than him at it," she said.
She started wrestling in 2nd grade, and it didn't take long for that competitiveness to shine.
"In about 7th grade, I placed at boys' state, and I remember that was huge for me, because it kind of showed all my hard work was paying off, and that was at a time where there wasn't very many girl wrestlers at all," she said.
But Lexi persevered, ending a historic career at Plainfield South before starring at Aurora University, where she has become a two-time All-American as a junior.
"I mean, the personality, the character, who she is on the mat and off the mat; but her true love for wrestling. She's doing all this because she wants to be the best," Pearch said.
"We're in here every day, if not twice a day, getting work outs in, and picking on fine little details that can get you to that next level."
She's continued to raise her level each year as a top wrestler in the country, whether it's winning the Midlands championship with the Aurora University Spartans, or medals for Team USA.
"Her making two world teams back-to-back, and bringing home two world medals is huge at any level. There's very very few spots. You're talking about 10 in each age group every year," Pearch said.
Lexi's individual success is helping a young women's wrestling program in more ways than one.
"Women's wresting blew up in college wrestling, and it blew up really fast. We started off with smaller numbers, but over the next few years we've had a tremendous amount of success, starting with one individual," Pearch said. "Done a great job for our program, bringing in more numbers and more talent."
Ultimately, Lexi plans on continuing to use her talents to make a difference.
"Go to the Olympics, win the Olympics, win world championships, but also once that is said and done, I want to become a D1 women's wrestling coach. Since it's still so young right now, we don't have too many girl coaches right now, and I just want to help them," Lexi said.
Lexi credits her brother as being her rock growing up,
On top of wrestling, they both played football as well. Lexi stopped in 6th grade, Matthew is a linebacker at North Central College, and helped them to a national championship this year.