Olympic Dreams Inspire Montville Athlete

Fourteen-year-old Leah Wis likes seeing a copper medal dangling from her neck. She would like to see a gold one even more.

But not just any gold medal. An Olympic gold medal. And the track and field athlete has plans to make that happen.

Last week, Wis proved herself to thousands of Americans as she medaled in two out of four events at the 2012 USA National Junior Olympic Track & Field Championship. The event was held at Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD, and she spent the entire week at the competition. This year, Wis competed in the youth division in the high jump, triple jump, discus and javelin throw events. She placed fourth in discus, sixth in triple jump, ninth in high jump and 17th in javelin, the newest event to her.

Standing at 5-foot-7, Wis has been competing in track and field events since she was young, when a neighbor said she would be participating in a local track program and invited her to join.

"I fell in love with the sport," Wis said.

A week after Wis joined, her neighbor quit, she said. Her secondary inspiration, her brother, Matthew, also participated in track up until ninth grade. Now, Wis is carrying on her family's track legacy as she enters as a freshman this year.

Like many athletes, Wis has had to face obstacles. When she was 10 years old and competing in gymnastics events, she suffered an injury to her knee.

"It was almost like, every time I would land, something would happen to it," she said.

After the last time she hyperextended her knee, despite years of working hard in the sport, Wis walked away from gymnastics forever so that she could focus on her true passion.

"When I looked at the ultimate goal, track was more important to me," she said.

Wis has been coached by her dad, Bob Wis, a track and field coach at the high school and junior high school for the past eight years, and, for the past two years, by Anthony SanFilippo, also a high school coach.

"She's the best athlete I've seen at her age and I've been coaching a long time," SanFilippo said. "Everything she picks up, she just is a natural at. It's scary."

SanFilippo was particularly impressed with Wis' performance during the discus event at last week's Junior Olympic Championship. With just one throw to qualify for the next round, Wis managed to throw far enough to pull ahead and eventually place fourth in the event.

"She was struggling a little bit and I pulled her aside and I had her do some drills on the cement sidewalk," he said. "She hit one just right in the drills and I said, 'That's what you have to do.'"

To get to the national event, Wis had to qualify in the annual regional track and field event, something she has done five times. Wis begins training every year the last week of February and continues to push herself through August.

This past year, Wis began to have pain in both of her knees, a side effect of growth, her doctor told her.

"Any time she jumps, she's in tremendous pain," Bob Wis said.

But the pain does not stop the athlete. Bob Wis said when he brought his daughter to the doctor, who told her not to compete in the Junior Olympic event, he noticed her head down as the doctor spoke.

"She looked up and said, 'I'm going this year. I don't care,'" he said.

Leah Wis said the pain is worth the satisfaction of doing well in the competitions.

"Even to get fourth, it's worth the pain because I worked so hard," she said.

It is determination that pushes Leah Wis to do so well in competitions. But it is also that determination that leaves her wishing she did better when she does not place at the very top.

"I always feel like I put so much time and effort into it, that somehow I let [my coaches] down," she said.

Still, Wis is heading to Montville Township High School in the fall having already surpassed the high school's triple jump record at 35.2 feet. Next year, she is planning to participate in soccer, basketball and spring track.

Wis has already begun strategizing how to do better at next year's Junior Olympic event.

"I'm going to be smart and continue doing all the training," she said.

If, or when, Wis makes it to the international Olympic Games, Bob Wis said she would be likely compete in a heptathlon, or a multi-event sport. Wis said he is always proud of his daughter, who is moderately humble about her successes and encouraging of other athletes.

"When somebody throws great, she's the first to say, 'great job,'" he said.

SanFilippo said he looks forward to working with Leah Wis at the high school.

"She's got big dreams and big goals and I've been lucky enough to be alongside her for the past two years while she works toward those goals," he said. "Montville is honored to have her there."