All About Baysden

Ms. Baysden has always led a life of athletic achievement. Her success starts with soccer, which she played for most of her life (from age 4 all the way up to high school), but it didn’t stop there.

Her soccer coach saw potential in her and recommended that she try running. The coach was right; in her first year of running, she went on to win her first meet of the season. With this win came even more ambition and drive. With her admirable level of dedication, she gained much success in her high school years. She went on to run in a division 2 college and win 2 marathons afterwards. She was also a two-time conference 10k champion in track in college and even made the national cross country team. Ms. Baysden ran Boston, and was the fastest female finisher from Indiana the year she competed.

Ms. Baysden didn’t let sports become a mundane chore; she also brought fun aspects into running. She recalls the time where she and her friends ran to prom together. They wanted to make their prom unique and decided to add this fun twist to it, making it their own. Her and her friends took their love for running outside of their sport and merged it with their teenage lives.

The most prominent and admirable quality of Ms. Baysden is her exceptional discipline and love for her sport as an athlete. Baysden says, “ Running is my life. As long as my body lets me, running will continue to be my life.” Now being a science teacher at Lotus School for Excellence, this does not stop Baysden from using her athletic skills to help her students.

While she provides educational knowledge to high school students, she also assists with their athletic futures. Baysden has coached at Lotus for 5 years. She has produced many passionate athletes led many to become great ones. Coach Baysden produced state qualifiers in both cross country and track. Every season of cross country under her coaching, Lotus produced both boys and girls qualifiers, and even a state champion! Baysden says, “I coach because I love running, and I want to inspire others to love and appreciate running as much as I do.”  She trains students to build physical endurance but also mental endurance. She is there to provide emotional strength because she understands the dedication an athlete has to build in order to succeed.