Delaney: Wiggins, a pioneer, back to states
Thirty-three years ago, Franklin Academy softball coach Michelle Wiggins and some colleagues at the Malone, New York school started sports teams for girls.
None of them could've anticipated the opportunities that became available for female athletes or the place sports would have in society for athletes of both genders.
"Amazing," said Wiggins, a 55-year-old physical education teacher at Franklin Academy.
Wiggins and her state-ranked No. 9 Huskies will go back to the state semifinals for the third time in 32 years this weekend after defeating Oneida, 2-0 in a Class A state regional final. The shutout was the 16th in 20 games for Franklin Academy (19-1) which has allowed 11 runs all year.
Wiggins, whose team won a state title in 1995 and lost in the finals the year after, coached every year since 1976 except 1989 when her daughter, Beth, was born. Beth Wiggins played for her mother and just finished her sophomore year at Marymount University in Arlington, Va. where she averaged 6.1 points and 6.3 rebounds for the Saints women's basketball team last winter.
Franklin Academy defeated New Hartford in a regional semifinal in 2007, and lost to the Spartans in a regional final at Gillette Road last year. Wiggins never expected this year's Huskies to do so well.
"It's wonderful, especially with this crew," Wiggins said. "At the beginning of the season, I had doubts we'd be Section X champs. My young kids really stepped up."
Wiggins and Franklin Academy have come a long way.
None of them could've anticipated the opportunities that became available for female athletes or the place sports would have in society for athletes of both genders.
"Amazing," said Wiggins, a 55-year-old physical education teacher at Franklin Academy.
Wiggins and her state-ranked No. 9 Huskies will go back to the state semifinals for the third time in 32 years this weekend after defeating Oneida, 2-0 in a Class A state regional final. The shutout was the 16th in 20 games for Franklin Academy (19-1) which has allowed 11 runs all year.
Wiggins, whose team won a state title in 1995 and lost in the finals the year after, coached every year since 1976 except 1989 when her daughter, Beth, was born. Beth Wiggins played for her mother and just finished her sophomore year at Marymount University in Arlington, Va. where she averaged 6.1 points and 6.3 rebounds for the Saints women's basketball team last winter.
Franklin Academy defeated New Hartford in a regional semifinal in 2007, and lost to the Spartans in a regional final at Gillette Road last year. Wiggins never expected this year's Huskies to do so well.
"It's wonderful, especially with this crew," Wiggins said. "At the beginning of the season, I had doubts we'd be Section X champs. My young kids really stepped up."
Wiggins and Franklin Academy have come a long way.
posted by Anne Delaney at
7:46 PM
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