During the Southeastern Conference championships, countless athletes from 14 Southeastern Conference schools will be settling into their starting blocks thinking about the opportunity that lies ahead: a chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships on March 14.
But for LSU senior hurdler Jasmin Stowers, opportunities lie beyond the finish line and the track.
At this weekend’s 2014 SEC Indoor Track and Field Championships, Stowers has the chance to make history as the first athlete in conference history, male or female, to win four straight SEC Indoor championships in either the 55-meter or 60-meter hurdles. But Stowers’ real goals grow beyond her success on the track.
“With Jasmin, I think that there’s really that focus in academics and being a collegiate athlete,” said LSU track and field coach Dennis Shaver. “But she has more aspirations to go to graduate school than she has to be a professional track and field athlete.”
If hurdling doesn’t turn into a profession, Stowers’ career goal is to become a dietician because she said proper nutrition is something both athletes and non-athletes can benefit from.
Academics always finishes first in Stowers’ mind. The Pendleton, S.C. native has carried the classroom success she held at Pendleton High School to LSU, being named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll twice.
Both her athletic and scholastic abilities have shaped the person Stowers is today. And the honors she’s received have been endless since Aug. 17, 2007 was named “Jasmin Stowers Day” in the town of Pendleton, S.C.
“I was given a key to the city,” Stowers said. “It felt really good at the time. I know some people had that honor before so to be one of those people I felt blessed.”
Stowers’ potential to be a role model as a student and an athlete has made Shaver’s four years as her coach a special experience, he said. Her hard work and perseverance have been tested and proven on and off the track, most notably when she came back from a hamstring injury suffered in 2013’s Battle on the Bayou in Baton Rouge.
After pulling up in a 100-meter dash during the April 13 event, Stowers rehabilitated and was able to compete in the SEC Outdoor Championships a month later. Although she wasn’t able to defend her two-time crown in the 60-meter hurdles, Shaver said it was “miracle” to even see her make the NCAA Final.
Stowers battled adversity, and that molded her into a leader. Being the only 60-meter and 100-meter senior hurdler on the women’s team, Stower’s character has evolved since her freshmen year.
“I’ve definitely seen myself grow,” Stowers said. “I’ve become a better leader for the team and also know what it takes to do well in the SEC because it’s a very competitive conference. I had to step up this year to be an example for the younger freshmen.”
If not for the injury in 2013, Stowers may have added three straight outdoor crowns in the 60-meter hurdles to the three straight indoor titles she owns, a record currently tied with former Lady Tiger Lolo Jones, who set it from 2002 to 2004. While it’s an honor for Stowers to be mentioned in the same sentence as Jones, an Olympic hurdler, Shaver said it is well deserved.
“I really do believe that in the next two competitions, if everything goes well, I think [Stowers] could end up being our school record holder,” Shaver said. “So that means that she would have run faster indoors than Lolo Jones did as a collegiate. In their own ways, they’re very unique and special and both of them were very good students and very good athletes for our program. We’re proud of both of them.”
Stowers remained humble when asked about all of her accolades and comparisons to Jones. Breaking records means nothing if she’s not helping LSU win its thirteenth SEC Indoor Championship.
And when the 2011 Women’s Freshman Runner of the Year and five-time All-American is asked about the future, she is more focused on the present and the SEC Championships.
“[Becoming an Olympian] has always been an aspiration of mine,” Stowers said. “I’m just trying to get through this year and see how fast I run. Hopefully I’ll be capable of doing that in the future.”