(SEYMOUR, Ind.) – A neighborhood teenager might be representing america in the course of the Youth Olympic Video games in Senegal this fall.

17-year-old Karlee Vogel is from the Hayden space of Jennings County and her dad and mom personal Vogel’s Knock Out Martial Arts in Seymour.

Vogel has certified for the USA Taekwondo staff and is simply the fifth feminine to ever qualify for the Youth Olympics on this sport. 

She will even be the one athlete representing the USA within the 55kg division of Taekwondo in the course of the Youth Olympics.

Karlee earned her spot after defeating opponents on the USA Taekwondo Nationals in Charlotte in July. She additionally received the AAU Nationals in Florida this summer time.

Vogel was additionally a part of the 2025-2026 AAU Nationwide Workforce that competed in Croatia and Canada. She earned a Silver medal on the Presidents Cup in Ecuador earlier this summer time too.

Karlee has been working towards Taekwondo since she was 3-years-old and is at the moment a 4th Diploma Black Belt. 

She trains in the course of the week at her household’s martial arts studio after which travels to Michigan to coach with a Peak Efficiency coach.

“She not solely has to arrange for the video games bodily however is constructing new relationships with Workforce USA teaching workers. Making ready is demanding bodily together with mentally by staying coachable and targeted,” her mother, Kristie, mentioned. 

Karlee additionally teaches Taekwondo together with brother, Grasp Payton Vogel, on the household enterprise.

The 2026 Youth Olympic Video games might be in Dakar, Senegal from October 31 to November 13. It is the primary time the Youth Olympics will happen in Africa.