BUTLER TWP — She found the net in soccer and lacrosse on more than a few occasions.

But the running track surrounding Butler's Art Bernardi Stadium was foreign territory for Golden Tornado senior Alexis Leech.

Until last spring.

Leech joined the track team after being encouraged by assistant coach Mike Seybert.

“He kept badgering me about it,” Leech said, smiling. “He'd tell me: 'Give it a try ... just one practice.' I showed up and I liked it.”

After just one high school season in the sport, Leech has accepted a partial scholarship from the University of Pittsburgh. She already ranks among the top 10 all-time at Butler in three events.

Leech ranks sixth in the 200 meters with a time of 25.96 seconds. She is ninth in the 300 hurdles at 47.54 and third in the 400 meters at 57.33. She said she will likely focus on the 400 in college.

“She just has the drive to be successful,” Butler track and field coach John Williams said. “Alexis came out not knowing how to run a race, but she had the heart to win a race. She just gutted it out.”

Leech carries a 3.7 grade point average and plans to major in health sciences at Pitt. She is the third Butler girl in the past 15 years to join the Panthers' track and field program, following in the footsteps of Kendall Butch and Krystal Epps.

“I just want to go down there, improve a lot and get my education,” Leech said.

She always figured soccer would be the vehicle she'd use to get that education. Leech was a forward for Butler the past two years and tallied roughly seven goals and 10 assists this fall.

A lacrosse player as well, Leech scored nearly 50 goals in two years before giving up that sport after her sophomore campaign.

Heidelberg, Westminster and Allegheny were among the schools looking at her for soccer before Division I schools began showing interest in her for track. Leech also considered Duquesne and Robert Morris before opting for Pitt.

“I never expected this to happen,” Leech said. “It's a total surprise to me that I've done this well in track.”

To her coaches, her immediate success wasn't exactly surprising, “but it's still pretty incredible,” Williams admitted.

“Alexis had never done track before, but she's been an athlete,” he said. “To be ranked so high in the 400 and the hurdles shows she's an athlete.

“As her fundamentals continue to improve, she will get still better.”

Seybert agreed.

“She has incredible speed and she's a hard worker,” Seybert said. “Alexis is always good to everyone around her.

“She is the type of person every coach wants in his program — and she's only going to get better.”

Leech will be joining two other Butler County products — juniors Lydia Dennis (Mars) and Emily Schumacher (Karns City) — on the Pitt roster. Alonzo Webb has been the Panthers' track coach for 14 years.

During Pitt's first two years in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the track program has produced five All-Americans and sent 20 athletes to the NCAA Championships.