UWEC Athletics Hall of Fame
Katie Somers competed on the Blugold cross country team from 1981 to 1982 and again in 1984. She also ran on the Blugold track team from 1982 to 1983 and in 1985. Somers’ most decorated years came in 1984 and 1985. She paced the Blugold cross country team to an NAIA national team title in 1984 as she won the individual national title. Somers also captured the individual title at the WWIAC meet in 1984 to lift the Blugolds to the conference championship. During the 1985 track season, Somers was the NAIA national champion in the indoor mile and earned All-American honors by finishing second in the 3,000 meters and third in the 1500 meters outdoors. She was also a member of the school record-setting 4 x 800-meter relay indoors in 1985. Somers was also the conference indoor mile champion and outdoor 3,000 champion in 1985. Somers was voted the Female City Athlete of the Year for 1985 by the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. She was also named the WWIAC Scholar-Athlete for track in 1985. A 1981 graduate of Germantown High School, Steinkopf earned her bachelor's degree from UWEC in 1985. At the time of her induction, she lived in Burnsville, MN and was an internal systems auditor for Honeywell in Minneapolis.
