April 15, 2024 is a day that will go down in Manchester history. There are already a multitude of events that have happened on this date in sports history, such as Jackie Robinson becoming the first black MLB player and Magic Johnson setting the record for most career assists in the NBA, but Manchester has a moment to their own now. Yesterday was the 27th WNBA draft, and while most eyes were on Caitlin Clark, who would be drafted first pick to the Indiana Fever, a much bigger deal locally is her other new rookie teammate, Manchester alumni Leilani Correa.
Correa graduated from Manchester as a member of the class of 2019, and played for Saint John’s for three years before transferring to the Florida Gators for two years. She would go on to set the record for career points in both the Men’s and Women’s basketball programs for Florida. According to the Florida Gators, Correa finished out her collegiate career with a combined 2,132 points; recording 1,272 at St. John’s and 860 at UF.
Head girls basketball coach Mr. Beauchemin said, “It feels pretty good (about having a former player make the WNBA). In the time I had with her, she was a really hard worker and this is a culmination of that for her. But the work will have to continue.”
According to the MTHS Sports Twitter, Correa is the first Manchester graduate to be drafted into a professional sports league.
While usually you can only bet on red or black, this just goes to show you can never count out blue and gold.
Click here for more of Correa’s career stats.
