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Prep Profile: Kelli Semrau

Compiled by Dennis Semrau  —  6/25/2008 3:31 pm

These are the final Prep Profiles of the 2007-08 calendar year. Preps coordinator Dennis Semrau will resume profiling a student-athlete who excels competitively and in the classroom in the fall.

Editor's note: For the past 13 years, Dennis has had the opportunity to speak with hundreds of prep athletes in compiling what has become a staple of our coverage in The Capital Times. This week, he has the honor of featuring his daughter, Kelli, who recently graduated from Middleton and is headed to Arizona State on an academic scholarship.

Kelli Semrau

School: Middleton

Year: senior

Sports: softball

Softball highlights: Semrau is a two-time letterwinner in softball, playing shortstop and third base and serving as a pinch runner for the Cardinals as a junior, and starting in left field as a senior. Her senior year, she batted .344 with 10 runs scored and 10 RBIs to help Middleton win regional and sectional titles, and advance to the WIAA Division 1 state tournament. Her junior year, she scored 14 runs to help the Cardinals win the Big Eight Conference title with a 16-0 record and advance to the sectional semifinals.

Cumulative grade-point average: 3.75

Favorite subjects: German; AP Euro

Advice: "Try anything and everything you are interested in. The rewards outweigh the risks."

Three words to describe me are: compassionate, dedicated, stubborn

How I got started in sports: I started playing tee ball in kindergarten, softball in first grade and basketball in third grade.

My most memorable moment in sports was: scoring the winning run in a 3-2 victory over Madison Memorial my junior year to help Middleton finish unbeaten in the Big Eight

I enjoy playing softball because: of the intensity of the game, spending time with friends and being outside

My role models are: my late grandma, Dorothy Pierce; my parents, Dennis and Karin Semrau; my friend, Alex Petruzates; and my teammates

My family also includes: my brother, Matthew

Favorite athletes: Ryan Braun, J.J. Hardy

Favorite teams: Milwaukee Brewers, Wisconsin Badgers

Favorite movies: "The Princess Bride," "Fiddler on the Roof"

Favorite TV show: "Scrubs"

Favorite foods: pasta; chocolate chip bagels

Favorite place to visit: Berlin

I want to visit: Czech Republic

Favorite restaurant: Cosi

Favorite drive-in: Kopps in Milwaukee

Radio pre-sets: 106.7 FM; 91.1 FM; 106.3 FM

I drive: a red 2002 Toyota Corolla

I wish: we could have won state in softball

I can't live without: my dog, Devi, and my cell phone

Favorite Book: "To Kill A Mockingbird"

I wish I could meet: German chancellor Angela Merkel

Favorite opponent: Madison Memorial

Nickname: "Semi"

If I could change anything, I would: make people as a whole more compassionate toward the lives and feelings of others

This and that: member of National Honor Society, Drama Club and German Club participated in German Exchange Program during sophomore year peer tutor Evjue Foundation Scholar earned a Cardinal School and Community Service scholarship served as a youth basketball coach for four years in the Cross Plains Optimists' Youth Basketball Program Mazomanie Food Pantry volunteer.

Post-high school plans: attend Arizona State to study global studies and German

Career goal: United Nations translator or college professor

Compiled by Dennis Semrau  —  6/25/2008 3:31 pm