For an athlete, competing in someone else’s shadow can be tiring, and with the history LSU track and field has, there are a lot of shadows for athletes to dodge.
Currently, no track athlete casts a bigger shadow than senior sprinter Kimberlyn Duncan. The Bowerman Award Winner, nine-time All-American and five-time NCAA Champion’s tendency to hog every collegiate track and field award available leaves little room for LSU’s other runners to grab any limelight.
Even sophomore sprinter Aaron Ernest, who is quickly establishing himself as one of the country’s best, can go unnoticed when sitting on the same roster as one of the greatest sprinters in LSU’s history.
But he’s not complaining.
“I kind of like being under her shadow because I can stay under the radar,” Ernest said. “Everyone knows when they come to an LSU track meet that Kimberlyn Duncan is going to be there, so I can just keep flying under the radar. That’s fine with me.”
Ernest and Duncan both run the 200-meter, 100-meter and 60-meter sprints, and though Ernest doesn’t quite have the trophy case that Duncan boasts, he is quietly building a formidable résumé of his own.
In his freshman season, Ernest earned three All-America Honors and an NCAA Championship as a member of the 4×100 relay team, which puts him right on Duncan’s pace.
“I know what it’s like because that was me at one point,” Duncan said. “Everyone else was getting theirs, and I was just in the back being happy for them. I know that’s how he is, but he’ll get his time.”
All-time great runners like Duncan are commonplace at LSU, and Ernest said he uses the legacy of other runners who came before him as a benchmark.
Ernest said former Tiger greats such as Richard Thompson, Trindon Holliday and Xavier Carter inspire him to cement his name in LSU lore the same way they did — a feat that Duncan said is well within Ernest’s grasp.
“He’s a great athlete,” Duncan said. “He’s focused when he has to be. He goes out there and gets the work done. I’m looking forward to when I’m gone and coming back and seeing what he will do.”
Ernest’s history as a top-tier football player gives him the confidence to become one of the runners who breaks school and national records the way Duncan has, according to LSU coach Dennis Shaver.
In high school, Ernest received several Division I scholarships to play football, which left Shaver and other track coaches around the country wondering if the New Orleans native would even run track in college.
But Ernest committed himself as a track-only athlete and accepted a scholarship offer from LSU during his senior year in high school.
Shaver said he would have never attempted to compare Ernest to Duncan in the beginning of Ernest’s career at LSU, as he struggled through his first indoor season while adjusting to the weight-lifting and training regimen.
Now the two star sprinters’ similarities are evident, Shaver said, with one exception.
“I don’t think Kim had the same level of confidence at that stage of her career as Aaron has as a sophomore,” Shaver said.
Even though Ernest and Duncan practice at separate times, run against different opponents and will probably never race each other, that doesn’t mean a little friendly competition and smack talk isn’t warranted.
Keeping Duncan humble about her accomplishments isn’t hard, but Ernest likes to do his part by playfully reminding her every now and then that he’s not impressed.
“Every day I’ll tell her she’s not even good,” Ernest said. “I always mess with her like, ‘You’re really nothing. You only won 19-straight 200s. Anyone can do that,’ but it’s all in good fun.”
But Ernest doesn’t downplay Duncan’s excellence. He said she is welcome to share her knowledge whenever she wants.
“I would love to learn tips from a two-time national champion, but she’s keeping all the secrets to herself,” Ernest said.
“I would love to learn tips from a two-time national champion, but she’s keeping all the secrets to herself.”
