Big River Feature Story: Lajada Baldwin

Big River Running Company co-owner Ben Rosario is now writing cross country and track articles for St. Louis Scoop Magazine. You can read his articles in the magazine as well. Ben caught up with Lajada before the AAU Junior Olympics in Knoxville, TN. What follows is one of several features Ben will be doing in the upcoming months. For your information Lajada went on to finish second at AAU's, running an outstanding 53.50 seconds in the finals of the 400 meter dash. She was also part of the St. Louis Blues' winning 4x400 meter relay team.

Watch Lajada in the 400 at State HERE.

Watch Lajada in the 200 at State HERE.

Sometimes in high school sports there are those athletes, those once-a-decade types of athletes, who cast a large shadow over even their nearest competitors. While we celebrate the accomplishments of those chosen few we must not forget that out from under the shadows may come tomorrow's brightest stars. Central Visual and Performing Arts senior Lajada Baldwin is a standout sprinter who has been under the shadow of her friend Alishea Usery for three years but talk to Baldwin and you will know that it never bothered her one bit. In fact, in a few months she may be casting a shadow of her own at the University of Mississippi where she will run track for the Rebels in the powerful Southeastern Conference.

Baldwin, who runs summer track with Usery for the St. Louis Blues Track Club, finished second in the 100, 200 and 400 meter dashes at the 2007 Missouri State Track and Field Championships. In the 400 she blazed around the track in 55.28 seconds, a time that ranks her in the top five all-time at the State Meet. It was Usery though, at 53.55 seconds, who bettered her own State Record and stole the show. As a sophomore in 2005, Baldwin had finished second to Usery in the 100 and 200 but was unable to repeat the feat in 2006 when her State Meet was cut short due to a blister caused by running on the hot track. All told, Baldwin leaves her high school career with eight All-State performances not to mention a box full of medals from the AAU and USATF Jr. Olympics which are the culminating events of the summer track season.

Baldwin said finishing second to Usery was not something she ever dwelled on.

“I just focus on finishing the race,” Baldwin said. “My only goal is to do my best.”

Like many athletes it was in physical education class where Baldwin 's potential was first noticed.

“My gym teacher had us do shuttle races and I was doing really well,” Baldwin said. “She asked me if I liked to run and I said, ‘Yeah, I love it.'”

Her love affair with running deepened after she joined the St. Louis Blues summer track club where she met the Usery twins, Alishea and Ashley , Normandy standout Paris Daniels and many other great sprinters. Rodney Dotson coaches the Blues and said that it is Baldwin 's work ethic that produces her good results.

“She's a coach's dream,” Dotson said.

Dotson said that competing against Usery has been both good and bad for Baldwin .

“It's hard to get beat by Alishea but it is good too because she makes you run well,” Dotson said.

Baldwin and Usery will look to run well together on August 4, the final day of the 2007 AAU Junior Olympics. This year's meet is in Knoxville , Tenn. and the Blues have the fastest seed time in the 4 x 400 meter relay. Daniels and Ashley Usery make up the other half of the squad.

Dotson said he was confident in his group.

“We are the only team with three girls capable of running under 55 seconds,” Dotson said. “It's going to be hard to beat us.”

Baldwin will enter the meet in good form, coming off of a 400 meter personal best at the regional meet where she ran 55.08 seconds.

A good meet would send Baldwin off to college on a high note, though she is already one of the top recruits for Mississippi . Baldwin said she chose the school after her official visit.

“I loved it,” Baldwin said. “I got to hang out with the girls from the team and they just seemed to have a really good time together.”

Baldwin said she plans on studying Health and Fitness or Exercise Science at Ole Miss, but she also plans on keeping up with the dancing she has been working on at Central VPA . Baldwin also played the cello at her high school which carries on its mission of helping students reach their academic and artistic potential.

When Baldwin races on the track it could certainly be akin to a work of art. Those who know track and field know that a perfectly run 400 is indeed a thing of beauty. An athlete is sprinting near top-end for just under a full minute, gliding around the turns, internally monitoring one's own effort so as to reach exhaustion just before crossing the line, leaving every ounce of energy out on the track.

The 400 is regarded as one of the toughest events in all of track and field and Baldwin , like many, prefers the 200 because as she said the 400 is too long. However, she admitted that her future likely lies in the one-lapper.

Dotson agreed, saying that it will likely be her best event as she continues her development as a runner.

“It's hard for me to say because everybody trains differently,” Dotson said. “I could be wrong but I think she'll be better in the 400.”

Of course, this means that she will continue to run the 4 x 400 relay and maybe even the 4 x 100 and it is the summer relays that Baldwin remembered most fondly from the last four years.

Despite all of her individual accomplishments it was a 4 x 100 relay race in Joplin , Mo. two years ago that stands out as her favorite race.

“Our third leg was coming around and she tried to handoff and the baton flew up in the air,” Baldwin said. “I somehow caught it and ended up almost catching the girl in front of me.”

Fitting that such a fun moment is what Baldwin will carry with her as she embarks on her new journey. For her, track and field is a sport that finds its greatness in the fact that it is open to everyone.

“I like it because there are so many different events,” Baldwin said. “No matter who you are you can find something you're good at.”

She certainly did.

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