Sarah Wiggins smiles with her family after signing her National Letter of Intent to play golf at SUNY Cortland next year.
Photo by Carter Eckl.
Carson High senior Sarah Wiggins wasn’t necessarily sure college golf was for her until her final season in Senator gear.
Wiggins said at the beginning of her senior year, the idea gained more traction.
By the end of the fall, Wiggins had posted a fourth place individual finish at the Class 5A regional golf tournament, which helped bring a team full of sophomores to the state tournament.
Thursday afternoon, on the Morse Burley Gymnasium floor, Wiggins put pen to paper and signed her National Letter of Intent to continue playing golf at SUNY Cortland in Cortland, New York – located roughly 30 minutes south of Syracuse.
The Red Dragons are a Div. III program and compete in the SUNYAC, or SUNY Athletic Conference.
Initially, Wiggins reached out to SUNY Cortland’s head coach, Mike Discenza, and the process started from there.
In mid-February the Senator senior visited the campus and met with the current Red Dragon women’s golf team.
“I didn’t realize that I really wanted to play college golf until the starting point of my senior year,” said Wiggins. “… My mom and I went and visited the school, and I fell in love with it.”
Wiggins feels her ability to find the fairway when using driver is one of the strongest parts of her game.
While a part of the Carson High golf team, Wiggins earned a two second team all-region selections before earning a first team nod, following her senior season.
Wiggins was also an honorable mention all-league player as a freshman and Carson High head coach Wade Greenlee anticipates she could be shooting in the 70’s consistently while in college with her continuous work ethic.
After signing her LOI, Wiggins was greeted by her teammates and gifted an inscribed bucket hat with ‘Mama Wiggins’ across the front.
Greenlee knows Wiggins’ personality and spirit will mesh with her future teammates just as well.
“She’s a natural leader and the other players really look up to her,” said Greenlee. “She’s one of those kids you want to be around. … She’s worked harder than most of the golfers I’ve had.”
The team around her in her final season was one of the highlights of Wiggins’ career.
“I realized the team was more like a family in that sense, where it’s super close and I can go to them if I need anything,” said Wiggins. “They are always next to me and cheering me on.”
There was plenty of academic appeal as well, as Wiggins currently plans on studying biomedical sciences when she steps on campus.
After graduation, Wiggins expects to go onto physician’s assistant school and earn her Master’s.
