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PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: WIGHTMAN THRIVING AT BUFFALO

Greg Dedrick
ccSCOOP Sports

01-24-10 - 4:45 p.m. - After seasons of dominating the Patroon Conference and representing Chatham, the league, and Section II in state meets, Leah Wightman is now enjoying early success at the University at Buffalo. With a full preseason to train, Wightman is showing great early season form.

In her first Division I Indoor Track meet at Akron Quad at the University of Akron in Ohio, Wightman raced in the 800-meters and faced some tough competition in University of Michigan’s Jillian Smith, a former High School All-American.

In this race Wightman finished second only to Smith and posted a time of 2:13.06, which was not only good for a great finish in this individual race but also placed her in fifth in the entire nation in the 800-meters.

The 2:13.60 she ran in Ohio is so strong that it is also currently the top time for the women’s 800-meter out of all New York State Collegiate Athletes.

  

With other meets going off, Wightman slipped to seventh, and according to her father, Steve Wightman, she will need to run sub 2:10 to remain in the top ten—a time he believes she is in position to achieve. As more and more schools get races under their belts and compete in multiple events, her time is now down to 31st on the United States leader board—still an impressive feat. Her time from Akron is still tops in the Mid-American Conference. She will look to get her time even better in two weeks during a meet at Penn State.

Last week Wightman got back to the track and competed in the 1000-meter race at Kent State and ran a time of 2:54.  This time was an incredible 8 seconds faster than her personal best and placed her tenth in the nation and gave her the third fastest time in Buffalo history.

Wightman has already qualified for the ECAC Regionals in both the 800- and 1000-meter races, and this weekend she will be running in the 500 and anchoring the 4 x 800 team at Cornell. Buffalo is looking to qualify for the ECAC’s in both events and would be close to University at Buffalo records if they make it.

ccSCOOP will be sure to keep up with Wightman’s impressive accomplishments this season, and we look forward to seeing what heights she can reach in the next three years while at Buffalo.

 
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