Kendall Baisden

College and World Junior champion Baisden enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin in late 2013, majoring in business, and began training with the Texas Longhorns collegiate team. She immediately became a key member of the track team, being a 200 m and 400 m finalist at the Big 12 Conference indoor meet in 2014, and helping Texas to runner-up in the relay at the event. At the 2014 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships she ranked fifth in the 400 m and, at 3:27.42 minutes, set the second-fastest-ever indoor 4×400 m relay time for college athletes, although the team of Briana Nelson, Okolo, Baisden and Spencer were beaten by the Oregon Ducks team. This also marked her rise into a senior standard athlete, as she placed eighth overall on the global rankings for women's 400 m for 2014. In her debut at the competition, Baisden took third place in the 400 m at the 2014 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships, beaten only by teammate Okolo and Phyllis Francis of Oregon. She teamed up with Okolo to help Texas to the 4×400 m relay collegiate title – the time of 3:24.21 minutes set by Nelson, Baisden, Morolake Akinosun and Okolo was a record for the NCAA Division I Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships and the second-fastest recorded by a collegiate team at that point. Baisden also teamed up with Akinsun, Okolo and Morgan Snow to claim third in the NCAA 4×100 m relay.

At the start of 2015, she won the Big 12 indoor titles in the 400 m and relay. She sank to eighth in the Big 12 outdoor final, but was also fifth in the 200 m and won both the relay titles. At the 2015 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships she won the relay title and ranked twelfth individually. She led the Texas women's sprint team at the 2015 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships, taking runner-up spot in the 400 m behind Kala Funderburk. A team of Melissa Gonzalez, Baisden, Akinosun, and Spencer placed only eighth in the NCAA 4×400 m relay, but Baisden had more success in the 4×100 m, placing fourth alongside Snow, Akinosun, and Shania Collins.

Pan American champion After the end of the college season she ran at the 2015 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships and appeared to be among the top contenders after qualifying for the final with a run of 50.50 seconds. She was over two seconds slower in the final, however, and eventually placed seventh. Still, her performances that year gained her a debut international senior appearance as part of the United States team for the 2015 Pan American Games. With a run of 51.27 seconds in the 400 m final she became the first American champion in the event in 36 years after Sharon Dabney's 1979 win. Baisden teamed up with the individual runner-up Shakima Wimbley, as well as Shamier Little and Kyra Jefferson, to beat the Jamaican women to the 4×400 m relay gold medals.

Personal records Outdoor 100-meter dash – 11.55 (2010) 200-meter dash – 22.80 (2015) 400-meter dash – 50.46 (2014)

Indoor 60-meter dash – 7.39 (2015) 200-meter dash – 23.74 (2015) 400-meter dash – 52.01 (2014)

National titles NCAA Division I Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships 4 × 400 m relay: 2014 NCAA Division I Women's Indoor Track and Field Championships 4 × 400 m relay: 2015

International competitions