Terrance Laird Eyes 2021 Olympic Berth With Another Year Of Seasoning At LSU

By Kristian Rhim for DyeStat

It was March 12, a day before prelims were scheduled to begin at the NCAA Division 1 indoor National Championships at the Albuquerque Convention Center in New Mexico.

LSU junior Terrance Laird and the Tigers were at the track going through their morning shake-out, which included block starts, jogging and stretching, in order to get loose before practice later in the afternoon.

The 5-foot-8 junior’s 200-meter entry time of 20.43 seconds was the fastest not only in the NCAA, but among all indoor performers in the world this year.

After the morning practice, Laird headed to nearby McCalister’s Deli when he saw friends from the University of Georgia.

They told him the meet had been canceled.

“I was kind of like, ‘What are you talking about?’ I thought they were joking around,” Laird said 

An hour later, Laird’s coach texted the Tigers that a team meeting would replace practice. At that point, he knew the meet was canceled.

The NCAA canceled spring sports, as well, ending the hopes he had for an outdoor season.

The Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championships, one of the biggest meets on the collegiate calendar, would have been this weekend in College Station, Texas.

“It just felt like something was taken from me,” Laird said. “I was frustrated because I felt I had a lot left to accomplish. We knew we were the best team. The men and women had a goal to come back with two trophies.”

Just two years ago, Laird competed on the national stage for the first time as a freshman at Penn State University, placing 12th in the 200 in 20.97 at the NCAA Division 1 Indoor Championships at Texas A&M.

As he excelled on the track, Laird struggled to adjust at Penn State, which, in turn, negatively impacted his academics.

“I wasn’t happy,” the junior said. “Then you know that affected my schooling. I was unmotivated academically just because I didn’t want to be there.”

The NCAA’s transfer portal didn’t exist until October 2018, so the process for transferring was much different than it is now.

Laird knew he wanted to leave, but was unsure of the process and frustrated as he realized he’d limited his options due to his poor grades. For some time, he contemplated giving up running.

“At that point, I didn’t really want to run track anymore,” he said. “I knew my grades weren’t good enough, so I would have to go to junior college or sit out a year, and at that point, I just didn’t want to run.”

He eventually found a home over a thousand miles away from Happy Valley at Hinds Community College in Raymond, Miss.

Hinds is far from the college experience Laird had at Penn State. There are 13,000 students compared to Penn State’s 98,000; There are two gas stations, a Sonic, Pizza Hut, and a Dollar General in the small town. It is a place where Laird says; everyone knows everyone.

Led by head coach Reginald Dillon for the past 20 years, Hinds has established itself as one of the best sprinting programs nationally among two-year college programs.

Dillon has sent more than 60 student-athletes to four-year schools, coached 47 national champions, and had two athletes win medals at the Olympics, among many other coaching accomplishments.

Even though Hinds was a program proven to produce talent, Laird still felt like he was moving in the wrong direction. He wasn’t looking forward to going to Hinds, and in the months leading up to the 2018 fall semester, he didn’t even work out.

“I didn’t really know what junior college was,” Laird said. “I knew I was a Division 1 athlete and that I could compete at the (Division 1) level. I proved that I could compete and now I’m thinking, ‘Why do I have to take a step back because you know, the decisions I made academically?’”

When Laird enrolled in the fall, he was focused on performing well in the classroom, running fast, and getting out of Raymond as quickly as possible. To his surprise, however, Laird found a family, and calls his time at Hinds, “A blessing in disguise.”

He instantly bonded with his teammates and has a special relationship with Dillon, who he still talks to every day.

“To be honest with you, if it were a four-year school, I would’ve stayed,” Laird said.

After an impressive season at Hinds that he capped off with a wind-aided 19.64 200 time at the National Junior College Athletic Association Division 1 Championships, Laird heard from a bevy of schools, including Florida State, Arkansas, Alabama, USC and LSU.

When Laird was choosing where he would attend college, Dillon says the sprinter was nervous and unsure if he could live up to the expectations that those schools had for him.

“I told him, ‘You gotta figure out if they can live up to your expectations!’” Dillion said. “You don’t gotta live up to nobody’s expectations. You are the product. They’ve got to meet your expectations, and if they don’t, you can go to another school.” 

Dillon’s words stuck with Laird. The junior enrolled in LSU in January and dominated on the track, exceeding even the highest of expectations. In addition to his 200 performance Feb. 15 at the Tyson Invitational, Laird’s 60-meter dash time of 6.66 the day before in Arkansas was tied for 23rd in the nation.

At LSU, Laird has built a bond with assistant coach Bennie Brazell, who has given the nickname of “T Money” to his star sprinter.

“T Money is a grinder man. He reminds me of the work ethic we’re seeing from Michael Jordan in the Last Dance documentary,” Brazell said. “Terrance wants to be great. If you’re an athlete that wants to be mediocre, you won’t be comfortable around Terrance. If you’re out there bullshitting, he’ll let you know about it, and I love that about him.”

Brazell says that practice at LSU is an environment that’s unlike anywhere else in the country. Teammates are challenging each other daily, whether it be in block starts, drills or workouts.

So when Laird got to LSU, he was no exception.

“I remember when he first got here one of the guys said, ‘That 19 don’t count that was wind-aided; you gotta show me!’” Brazell said, laughing. “That’s how we are. It’s just competitive out here, but it’s all love. He earned his teammates’ respect, and once he went out on the track and started busting people’s asses, it got even better.”

Even though he was with the team for only a few months, Laird quickly became a leader and a role model for some teammates, like freshman Charles Lewis. 

“Terrance has been a motivator; he talks to me like he’s my big brother,” Lewis said. “He’ll say things like, ‘Come on, Charles! You know you’re faster than that!’”

Since the season ended abruptly, and classes moved online, Laird’s roommate went home, but he decided to stay at his apartment in Louisiana. He’s 19 hours away from his home in Coatesville, Pa., and didn’t think it would be smart to travel and possibly infect his family members during the Coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s sometimes challenging, you know being alone all the time, video games kind of got burnt out for me; you can only play Madden and (NBA 2k) so much,” Laird said. “I just started talking to my parents and my grandparents every day. They’re worried for me because I’m halfway across the country.”

As for maintaining fitness, Laird says, he’s been doing a lot of at-home workouts and a lot of core, as he doesn’t go outside. 

Although the season is lost, Laird is confident that the work he put in this year and the success that followed will only increase next year. He hopes to make the U.S. team at the 2021 Olympic Trials.

“You know if I can do this well in two months, I wonder how well I can do with seven months in this program,” Laird said. “So next year for me, I got one goal in mind. It’s just to win and hopefully make the Olympic team.”

And Brazell is in his corner.

“T Money has been through hell and back, man, but he’s still here fighting,” Brazell said. “This is just another block in the road. We didn’t come this far to stop now, we just face this adversity and get through it.”