Kelly Ann Baird
WINSTON-SALEM -- Kelly Ann Baird is considered an academic all-star, ranked fifth in her class, but it's the 15-year-old's performance outside the classroom that's making the biggest splash.
Since May, Baird has been training seven days a week, as many as four hours a day at the Central Family YMCA in Winston-Salem. Her sights are set on the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
"I have to manage my time really well," admitted Baird. "I get up at 4:45 a.m., come to the [YMCA], I swim for about an hour and a half, then I go back to school."
This weekend, all her hard word will be put to the test when she competes in the U.S. Open Water Olympic Trials in Fort Myers, Fla.
Kelly Ann Baird is considered an academic all-star, ranked fifth in her class, but it's the 15-year-old's performance outside the classroom that's making the biggest splash.
"My goal is just really to make a team," Baird said. "I really hope to get top two. The top two go to the [World Open Water Olympic Trials]. The top 10 at Worlds go to the Olympics."
Those close to Baird, like West Davidson High School principal Kate Gentry, aren't surprised.
"She's very driven, she's very goal oriented, [and] she makes stuff happen," said Gentry.
WSY swim coach Allison Lloyd agrees.
"She is a great workout swimmer. She knows exactly what she needs to do," Lloyd said. "Kelly Ann is the type of athlete that will go out there and be aggressive and give 110 percent in whatever she does."
It's something Gentry believes will give the teen the edge she needs to come out on top, in swimming and in life.
"I think she's a role model for folks in general as far as having ambitions and doing what she needs to do to achieve those ambitions and make her dreams come true," Gentry said.
"It just sunk it in my head I've got to get everything done, do my best,” Baird confessed. “I don't really know, I just try my best at everything."
In addition to holding down a full high school course load with a 4.4 GPA, Baird is ranked 13th in the nation in open water swimming. The category will be introduced for the first time in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.