07/31/2008 by Jake Terry On this day, Wilson and the other kids were competing in the lime and spoon game in which one person from each team would get set at the starting line with a spoon in one hand that was carrying a slippery lime. When “Go!” was shouted, the kids would run as fast as they could to the other side and make it back without dropping the lime. Then they would pass it on to their next teammate who would do the same. The stakes were high because family bragging rights in the neighborhood were on the line. “They wanted as many kids as possible to participate so our house could win because we were competing against different houses,” Wilson said. “I competed in several races and they saw that I could run, so I did it every year.” Even though the entire neighborhood knew Wilson had a tremendous talent for running, her parents never pushed her into running track. “They were more into other Jamaican sports like cricket and soccer than they were track,” Wilson said. Despite not being introduced to track at an early age, Wilson found her way into the sport by the time she was 5 years old and hasn’t looked back. “I started running, and I really loved it growing up,” Wilson said. As the years went by, Wilson practiced and trained for the different sprint races – the 100-meter, 200-meter, the 400-meter dashes and the different relay races like the 4x100 and the 4x400. She improved tremendously as she matured, but sprinting in Jamaica was never easy as the country is known for producing world-class sprinters. “Jamaica has some very good sprinters, and it was challenging for me,” Wilson said. “I was a good sprinter, but it was so challenging that if I made the finals I was always seventh or eighth. I decided to try something else, and I asked my coach if she could recommend me to a specialist, a hurdles coach, and she asked him.” But there is more to the story of why Wilson chose to become a hurdler. An incident in one particular race helped shape her future. During her senior season of high school at Convent of Mercy Academy, Wilson was set to run the 100-meter dash against stiff competition. The race was close, but the winner was clear – Wilson had crossed the line in first place. But the victory was short-lived. The girl Wilson edged out for the win became upset and insisted that she was the winner. “I won the race, but because of the way she is – like a bully – she knew all the meet promoters and her coach was a big coach back in Jamaica. She was crying and talking about how she won the race,” Wilson said. “Because she was crying, they gave the trophy to her, so I was really mad because I won the race and everyone saw that I won the race.” The unexpected turn of events proved to be the extra motivation Wilson needed to switch to the hurdles. “She did the hurdles, so that was another reason why I decided to do the hurdles because I wanted to beat her,” Wilson said. Wilson’s success on the track has skyrocketed since making the transition from sprints to hurdles. By the end of her senior season in track, Wilson had claimed the 400-meter hurdles title at the 2005 Jamaican Boys and Girls Championships and was beginning to be recruited by a number of major U.S. colleges and universities, including LSU. LSU’s Assistant Head Coach Mark Elliot started corresponding with Wilson’s high school coach, and it didn’t take Wilson long to see the benefits of attending LSU. But before she could become a Lady Tiger, Wilson was directed to Oklahoma Baptist University. “Because I was not really good at math, I did not have my math score that I needed to come straight to LSU,” Wilson said. “They decided to send me to Oklahoma Baptist for a year.” Wilson certainly made the most of her time in Oklahoma as she won seven All-America honors and three individual national titles in NAIA competition, including wins in the 400-meter hurdles and both the indoor and outdoor 4x400-meter relay. Once she arrived on LSU’s campus, Wilson picked up right where she left off by achieving five All-America honors in her first season with the Lady Tigers track team. Even though her season in 2007 was filled with success, the biggest goal she set for herself eluded her. Wilson finished runner-up in her specialty – the 400 hurdles – at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Sacramento, Calif., to UCLA star Nicole Leach. “Nicki went on to face her (Leach) in two meets after that and beat her both times, so it wasn’t a situation where Nicki didn’t feel as though she couldn’t win,” said LSU head coach Dennis Shaver. “It’s just that it didn’t happen last year, but she was very determined this year to make it happen and did just that.” Shaver, who works specifically with LSU’s champion sprinters and hurdles, has mentored Wilson for two seasons now and has helped her improve her times. “He has helped me tremendously,” Wilson said. “I was good in Oklahoma, but I didn’t have that specific coach for my event. So, he has really helped me a lot since I have been at LSU.” Following her second-place finish in the 400 hurdles at the NCAA Championships a year ago, Wilson continued to work with Shaver into the summer and set a personal best in the event at the prestigious IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Osaka, Japan. While running against the top 400 hurdlers in the world, Wilson set a new school record with a time of 53.97 seconds in the semifinal round before finishing fourth in the final. Wilson again set a goal of winning an individual NCAA title in the 400 hurdles entering the 2008 season, but Leach was back to defend her crown. The duo easily qualified for the national final at the NCAA Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, with Leach running in Lane 6 and Wilson running to her inside in Lane 5. “It was one of the most exciting races that occurred in the entire meet simply because they were neck and neck the whole race, and even at the 10th hurdle touchdown they were right there together,” Shaver said. “Nicki just had that little bit more this year that she didn’t have last year. She was just able to run away from Leach at that point.” Not only was Wilson crowned national champion in her favorite event, but she was instrumental in helping the Lady Tigers claim their 25th NCAA team championship all-time as she was also the national runner-up in the 100-meter hurdles, scoring 18 points for the Lady Tigers in the meet. She added five more All-America honors in 2008 to become a 10-time All-American in her first two seasons at LSU. Now Wilson’s eyes are set on the next goal – winning a gold medal at the Olympic Games. She qualified for the Jamaican team this summer and has continued training in Baton Rouge as well as competing in the NACAC Under-23 Track and Field Championships in Mexico where she came away with gold medals in the 400-meter hurdles and 4x400-meter relay. “To win the gold medal at the Olympics is my ultimate goal right now,” Wilson said. “I already have the NCAA titles, so winning gold is my main goal. But if it doesn’t work in my favor, I at least want to medal because I came in fourth last year at the World Championships, and I should not come in less than third this year.” Shaver agreed. “Going into the Olympic Games, I would say that she is one of the people that you would look at to make a run at a medal,” Shaver said. “As long as she doesn’t make a mistake, I think she will be able to accomplish that in this being her first Olympic Games.” From carrying a lime in a spoon as a little girl in Jamaica to becoming a world-class athlete with visions of Olympic gold within her grasp, Nickiesha Wilson has blazed a path of success on the track that few can match. Yet it still seems so surreal. “It’s kind of a shock because sometimes when I look back I can’t believe I am in the position that I am in right now,” Wilson said. “But based on my hard work, I do expect success.”
by www.LSUsports.net
LSU Sports Information
It was another “sports day” for many youngsters in Kingston, Jamaica, and 5-year-old Nickiesha Wilson was just beginning to show off her running ability.