Coleman already has been an impact freshman for Redhawks

It has only taken a few meets for Kathy Coleman to establish herself as one of the most gifted athletes to ever compete in track and field at Southeast Missouri State.

Not that longtime Southeast coach Joey Haines expected much different.

"She's definitely one of the best recruits we've ever gotten here," said Haines, who has been at Southeast since 1982. "She's off to a great start, and if she stays healthy, there's no telling what she might accomplish."

Coleman, a freshman from Gateway Tech High School in St. Louis, has already accomplished quite a bit during her debut indoor season at Southeast, which has included five meets so far.

* Her top long jump of 20 feet, 2 1/2 inches tied the indoor school record, equaled the program's all-time mark for both indoor and outdoor distances and met the NCAA's provisional national qualifying standard. She currently has the 13th-best long jump in the NCAA this season.

* Her top triple jump of 40-1 1/2 set the indoor school record and equaled Southeast's all-time mark.

* In addition, her best times in the 55-meter dash (7.04 seconds) and 55-meter hurdles (8.22 seconds) rank among the top five all-time performances at Southeast.

"It's exciting," said the soft-spoken, polite Coleman during a recent workout at the Southeast Student Recreation Center. "I hope I can keep doing well."

That figures to be a given, according to Haines, who knows Southeast was extremely fortunate to land Coleman before some of the nation's premier programs made late recruiting pitches.

Haines said Coleman was being looked at by the likes of LSU, UCLA and other powers prior to last year's Missouri Class 4 championship meet, but those programs wanted to see what she did at state.

But Southeast had started recruiting Coleman during her junior year and wound up signing her prior to that state meet of her senior season, when she won the triple jump, was second in the 100-meter hurdles, and finished third in both the long jump and 100-meter dash to help Gateway Tech capture the team title.

"The marks her junior year weren't that great. She was just kind of knocking on the door to having the marks for a full Division I scholarship," Haines said. "But when she came on her visit here you could tell she was a special athlete, the way she carried herself. And she was just a super young lady.

"When I saw her physically, I said I would offer her now. So we were the first school that really believed she could be the kind of athlete she turned out to be. We signed her before the state meet when she was a senior. If we hadn't signed her then, we wouldn't have gotten her."

That's because Coleman excelled during the national circuit last summer, winning a long jump title and running a leg on the victorious 400-meter relay at one national championship meet. By that point, the country's premier programs tried to get in the mix.

"LSU and UCLA talked to me at outdoor nationals, but I had already signed with SEMO," Coleman said.

Not that she seemed to be complaining.

"I'm happy with my decision," she said. "I like it here."

Haines also had a special ace up his sleeve when he recruited Coleman because her niece is current Southeast standout sprinter Juanita Coleman, a sophomore.

That's right, her niece. Juanita's mother happens to be Kathy's oldest sister. Kathy Coleman is the youngest of nine children, ranging in age from 19 to 40.

"My mom wanted me to stay close to home," Coleman said. "It's nice having Juanita on the team."

Coleman, also a strong student -- she had a 3.82 grade-point average during the first semester at Southeast -- said attending school just a couple hours drive from St. Louis has been nice because it's allowed her parents to come to many of her meets.

And regarding her accomplishments so far, Coleman said she's about right where she expected to be -- although she hopes plenty of more success is just around the corner.

"I'm pretty well where I expected to be at this point in the season," she said. "I want to make it to nationals, and I want to do good at the OVC. I want to win everything I can."

She appears well on her way.