UNM student Leanne Vigil may stand only 5 feet tall and weigh 105 pounds, her efforts in the weight room are anything but diminutive.
Vigil recently returned from the Under-23/Collegiate National Weight Lifting Championships in Shreveport, La., where she won two events.
She placed first in the snatch event, which is when the weightlifter picks the bar up from the ground with a wide grip and pulls it overhead. Vigil added another first place in the clean and jerk, where the weightlifter brings the bar up to the shoulders and then overhead. Vigil lifted 105 pounds in the snatch competition and had a 139-pound lift in the clean and jerk to win both events.
The 20-year-old Vigil said that, in view of her stature, people often can’t believe that she is a weightlifter.
“I get that all the time,” Vigil said. “Everywhere I go, somebody finds out that I weight lift, I hear, ‘You’re not a weightlifter, you don’t lift weights.’ I just think that whatever you’re good at, use it to your advantage.”
She added that her trainer says her short legs and longer torso are an ideal build for weightlifting.
Vigil has been training since December with UNM strength and conditioning coach Joaquin Chavez, who helps train the UNM softball and football teams.
But it was a fateful day in her senior year at Capital High School in Santa Fe that drove Vigil into the weight room.
“At the last track meet to go to the state meet, I was in first place in a race I was running,” Vigil said. “I fell and got a huge scar on my arm; I would have gotten state record time and finished in first place. I thought, ‘What am I going to do now?’
“Then one day I was on a senior trip and I met Joaquin. I tried it for the summer. I drove from Santa Fe once a week, but once December came I hit it hard. Joaquin is the best coach I’ve ever had.”
Chavez said the accomplishments Vigil has made — especially since she’s only been training for a short time — are remarkable.
“To do what she has done in the short time she’s been involved is just incredible,” Chavez said. “She’s really got it together.”
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
In addition to pursuing a degree in accounting and working, Vigil must adhere to a rigorous training schedule in order to stay in competition form.
“I train Monday through Friday and sometimes Sunday morning for about an hour and a half,” Vigil said. “It’s hard on the joints. By my fourth or fifth workout of the week, I’m just wasted.”
Vigil also points to her parents as being key to her success.
“When we went to Louisiana, we all hung out,” Vigil said. “They do everything I need to be prepared. They get me Gatorade, do my laundry, everything I need — they provide it. Sometimes I think I wouldn’t do it if they weren’t there. To make them proud of me, sometimes I push extra.”
Chavez said her performance in Louisiana is already beginning to open doors for other competitions.
“Out of the under-23 portion, a team will be selected, both men and women, to compete in Mexico at their Olympic festival this August,” Chavez said. “She is at the moment looking OK for selection. The real highlight of this last year, though, is that she’s been very good, and no matter if she makes the team or not, we’re very happy.”
Vigil says she has aspirations of competing in the Olympics, though Chavez believes she may be eight years away from being ready.
“Ever since I was little, I told my mom I was going to the Olympics,” Vigil said. “I tried every sport. Now that I’ve found weightlifting, this is my calling. Joaquin said by the time I’m 28, if I train hard and eat right, I’ll be ready.”
Chavez, who is used to dealing with people two and three times Vigil’s size, said the two enjoy a special student-coach relationship.
Vigil is equally quick to give her weight room mentor credit.
“If I needed anything he would be there,” Vigil said. “He’s part of the reason I go every day. It’s awful when he gets mad at me, but when he gets happy when I do something right, it’s all worth it.”
