BATON ROUGE — After dominating the sport of collegiate track and field for the past two seasons, LSU hurdler Nickiesha Wilson has decided to forgo her senior year of eligibility and join the professional ranks after signing a lucrative contract with adidas.
Wilson announced her decision Friday after returning to Baton Rouge from Beijing, China, where she made her first career appearance in the Olympic Games for her native Jamaica.
“I wouldn’t trade my experience at LSU for anything,” Wilson said. “I owe everything I am today to Coach (Dennis) Shaver, Coach Debbie (Parris-Thymes) and this program. I’ve learned so much these last two years, and I know that I wouldn’t have this opportunity without them. This is definitely a program that has allowed me to reach the goals I’ve set for myself.
“Even though I will be leaving LSU, I’m very excited about starting a career in this sport. It is my passion. I just feel so blessed to be in this position, and I can’t thank my coaches and teammates enough for all of the support they’ve given me. I will always be a Lady Tiger in my heart.”
Wilson is sure to go down as one of the premier hurdlers to ever wear the LSU uniform with three NCAA titles and 10 All-America honors to her credit in just two seasons with the Lady Tigers.
The Kingston native put an exclamation point onto the end of her illustrious career by winning an NCAA title in the 400-meter hurdles at the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in June. She added a runner-up finish in the 100-meter hurdles at the national meet to lead LSU to its 25th NCAA team championship in the glorious history of the women’s program.
Wilson leaves LSU as the school-record holder in the 400-meter hurdles after clocking a personal best of 53.97 seconds en route to a fourth-place finish at the 2007 IAAF World Championships. Her best of 12.85 in the 100 hurdles ranks sixth all-time in school history.
“I think I’m more proud of that than anything else,” Wilson said. “It makes me feel really good to know I helped LSU win a national championship and kind of leave my mark on the program. I knew when I came here that LSU has had many great athletes come through here in the past, and I just wanted to live up to their legacy. I feel like we did that as a team this year.”
LSU head coach Dennis Shaver said that Wilson is as talented a hurdler as he’s ever coached and that her future in the sport is very bright.
“I’m very proud of Nickiesha in all that she has accomplished in her career here, and we certainly support her in the decision she’s made,” Shaver said. “I can’t put into words what she has meant to our program these last two years in the way she’s represented herself and this university on and off the track. She’s a special athlete and someone who has a bright future in this sport.
“She has as much talent as any hurdler I’ve ever coached, and she is already competing at a world class level even as a collegiate athlete. That just shows where she is headed.”
Despite her decision to give up her collegiate eligibility on the track, Wilson is determined to stay in school and complete the necessary course work required to receive her degree in psychology.
“Getting my degree is something that is very important to me and my family,” Wilson said. “I’ve been given this opportunity to train and go to school at LSU and I plan on finishing what I started. I’m also going to continue to train with Coach Shaver long term. He’s the best hurdles coach I’ve ever worked with and I feel like he can get me to where I want to go as a hurdler.”
Shaver said that Wilson embodies everything he looks for in a student-athlete and that he is proud of her decision to finish her degree before turning her full attention to professional track and field.
“The fact that Nickiesha plans to finish her degree says a lot about her maturity,” Shaver said. “It is something that is very important to her, and I’m as proud about that as anything else because it shows the kind of student-athlete she’s been at LSU. She’s just a special person.”
While many professional track and field athletes will still be competing overseas in the weeks and months following the conclusion of the Olympic Games, Wilson will take the rest of the season off to rest before starting her preparation for the 2009 IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Berlin, Germany, next summer.