Placed sixth in the PSAC Championship in track and field

By Davis Stoudt

Alicia Underkoffler first started pursuing track and field in middle school. Soccer was always her primary sport through middle and high school, and she mainly joined the track team just as a way to stay in shape for soccer season.

Once she realized that she had decent potential in track, it became the sport for her, and she decided not to pursue soccer in college.

Like most athletes, Underkoffler is quite competitive. Whether it is in hurdling, track and field or even playing board games, she hates losing. That competitive edge keeps her going every day.

Underkoffler is a hurdler on the KU Women’s Track and Field team. She is a junior majoring in criminal justice and minoring in psychology.

Growing up in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, her parents pushed her to get into sports because there was not too much to do in the area.

Underkoffler is on a scholarship and has an accumulated GPA of 3.9. While track is a big part of her life, she has always been more concerned with academics and keeping grades high.

Her biggest athletic accomplishment was placing sixth in the PSAC Championship in track and field.

Student athletes’ schedules are always very busy, and hers is no different. Some days, she will have to go from class right to practice or from practice right to a lift, taking up a big chunk of her day.

Other days will be less busy for her and she will only have one practice, giving her more downtime and a chance to rest her body. Underkoffler is also a part of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), where she and the other students speak on the teams’ behalf for things like funding, money issues and overall awareness for the sports themselves.

Criminal justice is a big part of her life because of her uncle, who was in both the Secret Service and the FBI. This made her want to pursue it in college. However, her dad has had the biggest impact on her life, and she views him as her role model. They are very close with each other, as she calls him every day. 

To Underkoffler, the best part about being at Kutztown is the friendships she’s made and how she is able to have more of a presence here compared to being at a big school.

Underkoffler’s biggest strength is that she is very outspoken and able to pick up on people very quickly. If someone is feeling down, it is easy for her to sense. She described it by saying, “College is always seen as very social, but it can also be a lonely place, so it’s important to check up on people.”