After competing for her home country of Trinidad and Tobago in the 2011 World Championships, senior sprinter Semoy Hackett returned to LSU to resume training for her final season as a Lady Tiger.
Hackett and teammate Kelly-Ann Baptiste, a 2008 LSU graduate and two-time NCAA champion, finished fourth in the 4×100-meter relay on the world level.
During the same meet, junior sprinter Riker Hylton earned a bronze medal for his role on Jamaica’s 4×400-meter relay team.
These are three of many international recruits who have enjoyed success at LSU.
“Our track and field program is made up of less than 5 percent international athletes, it’s just so often that they’re the high-profile athletes on the team,” said LSU coach Dennis Shaver. “You don’t bring somebody in from overseas that can’t help them.”
Elliott was an international recruit from Jamaica and posted a prolific career at LSU. Elliott said he still keeps in touch with club and high school track coaches in Jamaica who inform him about track stars and help him contact the recruits.
Shaver said he’s done lots of networking with coaches worldwide.
“You make those coaching contacts throughout the world,” Shaver said. “They know what you’re looking for and what you’re good at