Senior sprinter Kelly-Ann Baptiste has never dealt with as difficult a setback as she experienced in 2007. Baptiste, a nine-time All-American, spent this past season dealing with a lower back injury that hindered her usually stellar performance. “It was really difficult because that was the first time in my entire life that something major like that had ever happened to me,” Baptiste said. “Dealing with it was kind of hard, but with the help of my coaches and my teammates, I was able to pull through.” LSU coach Dennis Shaver said Baptiste was close to contributing in 2007 but could not compete at a high level because of the injury. “What was difficult about it is that when you’re hurt, you’re not really incapable of competing, but in track and field you have to be 100 percent,” Shaver said. “That little bit of difference makes it to where you can’t compete.” Shaver said the coaches will try to bring Baptiste along slowly through the season, but also believes she will be ready for the long season. “We’ve got her more prepared now to go for the long haul than we ever have before,” Shaver said. “She’s more fit now than what she’s ever been.” Baptiste holds one goal very high this season – winning a team national championship. “A whole bunch of [seniors] are leaving this year,” Baptiste said. “It has been four years, and we’ve never been able to do it. That’s really what’s in my heart for the team.” Baptiste also has specific expectations for herself this season and beyond. “It would be really great for me to win nationals in the 60-meter dash and the 200-meter dash indoors and the 100-and-200-meter dash outdoors,” Baptiste said. “I also want to make it to the Olympic finals in my country [Trinidad and Tobago].” Shaver said Baptiste’s early success at LSU will help her lead the team and help the younger competitors. “What [she] says, [her teammates] listen because she’s been there, tried it, done it, attempted it, however you want to look at it,” Shaver said. “Even from her freshman year, she was somebody that immediately contributed at the national meets. “She proved a lot to team members last year, even though she wasn’t feeling perfect, she was still willing to give it a big attempt to try and help the team,” Shaver said. Baptiste grew up in Scarborough, Trinidad and Tobago, and began competing in track at Signal Hill Secondary School in 2001. “I was always a person that was outgoing and looking for something to do,” Baptiste said. “[One of my friends] encouraged me to come join a [track club], and that’s how I got involved.” While in Trinidad and Tobago, Baptiste looked to her high school coach for motivation and guidance. “My coach at home was like a father figure to me,” she said. “He was a coach, and he was also an inspiration.” Baptiste said her mother helped give her direction on and off the track. “My mother gets involved with me in track and field, but she is just a constant indicator to me that track is not [the only thing out there],” Baptiste said. “She said track is not just your only image. You have other things you can identify yourself by.” Baptiste carried plenty of expectations coming out of Trinidad and Tobago. Along with competing in the 2004 Olympic Games, she was a Trinidad and Tobago junior national champion in the 100 and 200 meters in 2003. “Track and field is looked upon [in Trinidad and Tobago] just like college football is looked upon here,” Shaver said. “She was kind of the MVP of track and field in the country at that time for promising young people.” Baptiste said she first heard about LSU while competing at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. “I did not know much about [LSU],” Baptiste said. “When I went to the Olympic Games I saw some of the athletes from [LSU], like [former Lady Tiger sprinter] Muna Lee, and I saw the way that she performed.” Baptiste also said she decided to look LSU up on the internet for more info. “I saw the huge achievements they had made, like being back-to-back national champions for years,” Baptiste said. “When I look at the improvement everyone made when they got here, there’s no way I felt like I could’ve come here and not improve. So to me, the choice was a simple one.” The first time Shaver and the coaching staff saw Baptiste compete was at the 2004 Olympic Games. “We knew about her [before then], but [the 2004 Olympic Games] is where we first saw her and had an opportunity to talk to her,” Shaver said. “That January is when she came to school here to LSU. “It’s worked out well certainly for LSU and certainly for her too,” Shaver said. Baptiste said her biggest influence at LSU has been assistant coach Debbie Parris-Thymes, a former Lady Tiger and eight-time All-American. “Just knowing her accomplishments … kind of inspired and motivated me,” Baptiste said. Baptiste said her greatest experience at LSU came when the women’s team won the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championship this past season. “It’s weird because my greatest experience came when I actually did nothing last season,” Baptiste said. “Just watching them perform at a level that was just up and beyond and just experiencing us winning the SEC as a team was one of my greatest experiences here.” Baptiste, a psychology major, has plans for the future once she leaves LSU – even if it doesn’t involve track and field. “I want to go to graduate school for psychology, but I think the most immediate thing I’ll do is continue hopefully a professional career in track and field, and probably make it to at least three more Olympic games,” Baptiste said.
—-Contact Robert Stewart at [email protected]