WAUSAU – Former Wausau West track standout and three-time NCAA All-American Brooke Jaworski had just broken the 800-meter indoor school record as a graduate student at the University of Minnesota, and felt faster times were still ahead.
A week later, a plantar fascia injury stopped her momentum cold, derailing the final chapter of a career built since childhood.
“I wasn’t able to qualify for nationals,” Jaworski said. “The beginning of my outdoor season was a little rough, and I was just starting to kind of get back into things, but my season ended at regionals in the second round.”
It was a tough pill to swallow, especially for someone who had aspirations to run professionally after college.
“You want to be in your ‘A’ game as long as you can, especially at the right time,” Jaworski said. “The right time is graduation, when recruiters and different brands are starting to look for new prospects for their teams.
“So to end on kind of a lower note, while not dismissing the Big Ten Championship that we won and the different performances that we had during that season at Minnesota – it was kind of wrapped up as ‘this is not what I pictured for my graduate year heading into the real world.’”
Continuing to train, Jaworski took an internship at the University of Minnesota before moving to Colorado’s elevated altitude to train.
There, she took a position in Colorado’s athletic department, helping their development office raise money to support the entire CU sports spectrum, and embraced the new phase of her life.
“I was like, ‘You know what? I got two incredible degrees out of this track and field career. I met so many people, and it basically awarded me my first job and so many life lessons. I can’t be upset with this if it were to end this way.’ So, after I was done training, it was definitely a hard pill to swallow. It was everything that I had worked so hard on since I was probably four or five years old, but what has just really helped me stay grounded – because it’s been about a year since I’ve stopped competitively training and competing – has been my faith in Christ, and having something bigger than yourself and something true to hold on to when your like whole world gets flipped upside down.
“So, I attribute my transition from one life into another season of life to my faith.”
Finding purpose, salvation
Jaworski’s decorated collegiate tenure, in which she finished a five-time letter winner and a holder of numerous records in the WIAA’s state meet record book, also served as one of the most transformational periods of her life.
She mentioned how growing up in a tight-knit community like Wausau; her name was synonymous with excellence on the track, which carried a burden-like expectation of breaking state records and winning championships.
When things began to ramp up and take a heavy toll as a Longhorn, she found her faith just when she needed it most.
“While I had an incredible college career, breaking records, winning conference championships individually and as a team, I was always searching for something more,” Jaworski said. “Nothing was enough. And just the weight and pressure that I was putting in myself was just so much to bear. And I was like, you know, there’s got to be so much more to life than just trying to stay afloat and trying to uphold an image that I mentally put on myself that crushes me. So, Christ is my salvation.
“He just allows me the freedom to live freely, and to know what’s true in this life and what’s the most important thing. There wasn’t just one moment where everything changed, but at the same time, I did. It’s been a process and a journey, but I think everything clicked for me when I realized life isn’t all about track.”
A large part of that journey was Jaworski discovering a new perspective; that life isn’t all about upholding an image, idolizing success, or harmfully chasing the prospect of becoming a professional athlete.
It was knowing where her true identity was, which took time to rewire after being accustomed to competing at a high level for such an extended period.
“Without having that faith foundation, it was really dangerous in a way to grow up and make your identity as such and create those permanent-like bonds with the sport,” Jaworski said. “The mental toll increased because I didn’t have the right tools for being a holistic athlete. For me, it was ‘To be successful I need to train well, eat well, sleep well, do well in school, so I can get a scholarship,’ but I wasn’t pouring my time, energy, or passion into a very important pillar of who we are as human beings and athletes, and that’s the spiritual aspect of sport and life.
“When you’re imbalanced in that way, everything’s going to come to a point where it’s going to break. It’s like putting pressure on one end of a pencil; it’s going to snap. So If I did it all over again, I would have poured myself into being more of a holistic athlete. I can’t blame myself, I just didn’t understand or know or prioritize that as an important aspect of being an athlete. But, knowing what I know now, and being able to help insert the importance of that into other people’s lives, especially athletes who compete at a really high level, has been really important to me.”‘
‘Wouldn’t change a thing’
Since moving to Colorado, Jaworski has added mentorship responsibilities to her slate as a member of the Flatirons Community Church in Lafayette, Colorado, in hopes of continuing to pass knowledge to young athletes and college students in need of embracing.
She had a friend who was the young adult pastor there and was needing some more leaders to lead small groups. She and her husband Clay Schult gladly joined, where they had the opportunity to be part of the initial pilot small group that started in Boulder in a newly bought space the church had purchased for college students.
Their goal, though, is to reach as many young people as they can.
“Last summer I spoke at a conference at Rocky Mountain Church called Summer Con, and that was directed more towards middle school and high school students, where I had full reign to discuss my experience through faith and sport,” Jaworski said. “The most important thing to me is my faith and how that’s changed over the course of my lifetime of sport.
“There are a lot of people from Boulder who attend the church, but the church wasn’t reaching the college students in the way that they wanted to. So, they sent Clay and I to kind of start it up and see what God had for us in Boulder with the men’s and women’s small groups, and it was awesome to see the growth over the last school year. There were student-athletes there, men and women who were just students at CU, and I was able to use my faith and life in sports, and talk to people who might be in a pivotal or transformational time, like I was in college. So, to speak to young women about that experience, and hear about the temptations and the problems and issues and the challenges they go through now has been a really life-giving experience for me.”
From top-notch races to leadership in the church, Jaworski feels the work she is doing now is her most important thus far. She now understands that both her struggles and successes have led her to an even greater contribution.
“I think God is really intentional with the pain and the struggle that he puts in our lives. Had I not gone through all that struggle without him and my faith, I think my testimony would be very different.
“But, I wouldn’t change a thing just because he made my story very particular. Maybe if I had my faith sooner it could have helped me navigate sport and identity better, but at the same time, no, I wouldn’t change a thing.”
Contact or send game stats/info to Sports Reporter Alfred Smith III at alfred.smith@usatoday.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @AlfredS_III.
This article originally appeared on Wausau Daily Herald: When injury halted career momentum, Brooke Jaworski found her purpose
Reporting by Alfred Smith III, Wausau Daily Herald / Wausau Daily Herald
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Alfred Smith III, Wausau Daily Herald | USA TODAY Network
