Penn track and field siblings Scott and Alexa Dochat are taking on throwing together

Some people grow up measuring their height over the years on a wall in their house. The Penn track and field throwing sibling duo — junior Scott and freshman Alexa Dochat — documented their early discus throw numbers on a board in their garage instead.   

These siblings from upstate New York both started throwing in middle school and grew serious about the sport in high school under the guidance of their father, their throwing coach.   

“We grew up going to practices with my dad and watching people throw,” Alexa said. “It’s cool as a little girl to have role models who are so strong and so good at a sport to look up to. That was a large part of what shaped who I am as a person, my confidence, and then also my drive for the sport.”   

Alexa described the multi-faceted but ultimately positive experience of being coached by her father: while sometimes it was difficult to “escape practice” as the siblings’ skills improved — sometimes, he’d use dinner places to demonstrate throwing technique at home — their father was also able to support them in ways that a normal coach couldn’t.   

Despite his growing ability, Scott wasn’t sure he would be able to throw in college until his junior year, when his first recruitment call came in from the Princeton Tigers.   

“The next call came from Brown, and I had been recruited by Virginia and Stanford, additionally, so I was all over the place,” Scott said. “Penn was one of the last schools to reach out to me after Coach Dolan saw me competing at the Indoor New York State meet.”   

He then received a direct message from Penn’s throwing coach at the time, Jeff Pflaumbaum, over Instagram, asking if he was at all interested in Penn.    

“The more I talked to Penn, the more I decided it was the best fit for me,” he added. “Everything at this school kind of just clicked. The fields, being in a city – I mean, for me coming from the suburbs, it was pretty amazing walking around on Locust as a junior in high school.”   

Bleeding Red and Blue runs in the family: Alexa reported a similar love for cities and an automatic attraction to the University, despite considering it as an option a little late in the game.   

She wasn’t sure if she’d throw in college until about her sophomore year of high school, and she was even speaking with a few different schools when her mom warned her that time was running out to talk to other schools she might be interested in. She was aware of Penn’s program due to her brother, so she made the pivotal decision to reach out, not expecting much.   

“The coach ended up responding to me, and I was here the next year,” she said. “It's hard to not love a school like Penn where there's so much tradition. It's such an amazing academic opportunity, but also within track, it's just got such a rich history, like Penn Relays.”   

She recalled calling Scott that night, feeling a little apprehensive about “stepping on his toes,” and feeling immensely reassured when he was nothing but overjoyed to hear that she was considering Penn.   

While she was also nervous about the transition from high school to college throwing, being surrounded by her team and “especially [her] brother who manages two sports” made it a lot easier.   

“He's the first one that, if something goes wrong in a meet, no matter what he's got going on in a meet for himself, he's coming over and making sure to tell me, hey, get the next one,” she said.   

Scott highlighted the opportunities Penn has offered him to improve as an athlete, some of which manifested in him breaking a program record at the Sykes & Sabock Invitational at Penn State on Feb. 3 and becoming the first Quaker to reach 20 meters. He commended all the underclassmen this year on their endless energy, personality, and work ethic, but he emphasized that it’s especially fun to train with Lexi.   

“As much as it's great to have her as a teammate, though, it's just amazing having my sister around,” he said. “I mean, she was just over at my house for dinner for St. Patrick's Day and helped me cook corned beef.”   

Alexa also commented on coming full circle now that the siblings are attending and competing at Penn.   

“It's such a niche sport, but for us, it's been a part of our lives for so long,” Alexa added. “I mean, my dad would draw chalk circles in our driveway and stuff like that, so it's cool that we're able to do it at such a competitive level.”