Freshman Allison Seidman has already established a strong start to her collegiate career at Plattsburgh State by being named to the NCAA DIII All-East Region Second Team and All-SUNYAC team, as well as earning the title of SUNYAC rookie of the year for soccer. She is looking to find similar success in track and field.
Seidman started running track in seventh grade, saying she decided to join because, “People always told me I was fast.”
But she chose to continue with the sport after some positive feedback.
“Once I got into freshman year of high school, people told me I was actually good, so I stuck with it,” Seidman said.
Seidman is a Long Island native and, when it came time to choose a college, she was deciding between Stony Brook for Division I soccer or PSUC, which offered her a spot on both soccer and track.
Head coach Nick Jones recruited Seidman her senior year of high school in a meet where she competed in the 600 meter for the first time and won. He was impressed by how aggressive she was and by her competitive spirit.
Jones offered a visit to Plattsburgh where Seidman met with the soccer and track teams. Within the next month, she commited to PSUC. The chance to continue competing in both sports was appealing to Seidman.
Each upcoming track and field freshman are assigned an upperclassman on the team as a big brother or sister for guidance and to help ease the transition from high school to college. Seidman was assigned junior Elisabeth Plympton, who, before a single track practice, was excited to run with Seidman after seeing her play soccer.
“From the minute I saw her play in a game, I knew I wanted her on my 4×2 because she was speedy out there,” Plympton said.
Soon after becoming her big sister on the team, Plympton became close friends with Seidman.
“We really hit it off,” Plympton said.
Since joining the track team, Seidman has set goals of running the 400 meter in 57 seconds and the 200 meter in 26 seconds, but getting in the way of that are new challenges she didn’t face in high school.
“It’s been tough to adjust to the different training styles,” Seidman said.
Practicing indoors, catching up on sleep and balancing college and coming off an IT band issue in her thigh are all new challenges Seidman strives to overcome.
Athletics blends into Seidman’s major of fitness and wellness. She hopes to become a physical therapist.
Seidman has wanted to become a physical therapist since middle school, saying her interest was sparked because, “I was always hurt, so I’ve always been around physical therapists.”
If Seidman can navigate the new obstacles of college life as a two-sport athlete and avoid injury, Jones sees in Seidman the potential to be a record-breaker.
