Charleston – Abi Baker’s named had been etched in Wyoming East and state history long before she returned to the track and field scene this season.
A two-time basketball state champion who hit the game-winning shot in the 2024 title game, Baker had a competitive itch to scratch this spring. Consider it satisfied.
After picking up high jumping 23 days ago, Baker claimed the Class A title Saturday with a jump of 5-foot-2 Saturday at the state track meet at Laidley Field in Charleston.
The win makes Baker the first track and field state champion in school history.
She won the tiebreaker over Clay-Battelle’s Magnolia Lemley, clearing the height on her second trial while Lemley required three tries.
“I just like competing, really,” Baker said. “I just felt like track’s a sport that I can compete in the most because it’s a competition and you’re always trying to push yourself to be better.”
A hurdler who ran and competed in the state meet as a freshman, Baker didn’t run her sophomore season. In her return to the track this year she notched another state meet berth in the 300-meter hurdles but along the way she tried her hand at high jumping.
The first opportunity came in the Coalfield Conference meet at Shady Spring on May 1. She tied for first with a jump of 4-foot-8 and seeds were sown. From there she started working with area official Marshall Murray.
“I started at the Shady meet because I just wanted to try it,” Baker said. “After the Oak Hill meet, I started getting more serious about it because I saw I had a chance. After that I started working with Marshall so I could try and get better.”
After clearing 5-foot at the Oak Hill Invitational on May 9 and repeating that feat in the regional championship on May 17, Baker set a new PR to claim a title.
“I just thought that I made it to the top few and as long I kept trying, I actually could have a chance at winning,” Baker said.
Adding to Baker’s victory is an injury she overcame. During the 300-meter hurdles at the regional championships she aggravated a knee injury she suffered at James Monroe during basketball season. It had no impact on her performance Saturday.
“I just hurt my knee,” Baker said. “I just twisted it again. It was the same knee and it’s always something that’s bothered me a little bit but it’s not bad.”
A champion in two sports, Baker compared the feelings.
“The feeling of winning is better than anything, especially when it’s sports,” Baker said. “I just feel like with basketball it makes it so much better in a way because you’r not just competing for yourself, you’re competing for an entire team.”
East doesn’t have the equipment to practice the high jump on campus, leading head coach Emily Simmons to make a petition to her dad Jeff Simmons, the principal, to give Baker an opportunity to defend her title in a year.
“Wyoming East, buy us a high jump, Jeff Simmons!”
