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It’s a blistering hot summer day in Louisiana, and the track at the Thibodaux High School football field is steaming with heat by the time local track and field standout Abby Lazard arrives for her workout for the day.
Lazard stretches and readies herself for the work. She’s a bit sore, but it’s no bother. She knows that the burn will gradually fade with more reps and slightly better conditioning.
She gets on the track and makes a few jumps. They aren’t perfect, but they are effective – leaps that are gradually getting deeper and deeper with each day that passes and every workout session that Lazard gets in. The technique isn’t yet perfect, but that’s the purpose of Lazard’s long hours on the track.
When it’s all done, the former Central Lafourche state champion gets back in her car and heads home to Raceland. She’s covered in sweat and exhausted as she lumbers her car down La. Highway 1 and pushes closer to home.
When studying this work ethic and exercise pattern, it’s obvious that track and field is still important to Lazard – it always will be. The former state champion and successful college jumper said she loves the sport as much today as she ever has in her life.
But the meaning of love for this young woman has shifted a bit in recent months, and track is now just job No. 2 inspiring Lazard’s life. That’s because the former Trojans’ great gave birth to a healthy baby girl earlier this year. For the first time in Lazard’s life, she’s not solely focused on medals and titles. She’s now focused on making little Aria Greciana Taylor Bonvillian proud.
That’s the source of the workouts each day as Lazard aims to get back into tip-top form so that she can resume her college jumping – a career that was off to a budding start when Lazard was at Kennesaw State in Georgia before the pregnancy.
She said that she has recently committed to the Southern University and will complete her career with the Lady Jaguars.
“It’s all positive,” Lazard said. “I want to make her proud as well as show other young moms that having a baby isn’t the end of the world. You can still accomplish great things with a kid. That’s what I plan to do.”
Lazard said she can’t imagine life without little Aria – a baby she described as a sweet bundle of joy who is “happy,” “always smiling” and “loves to be around people.”
“She makes being a mommy easy,” Lazard says with a huge smile, beaming with pride over her daughter.
But on the day that Lazard found out that Aria would be a part of her life, it was news that was completely unexpected.
Lazard said that she found out that she was pregnant when she was getting her physical prior to her sophomore track and field season at Kennesaw – a time when Lazard was seemingly on top of the world in her career path. As a true freshman, Lazard had a glistening season for the Lady Owls. At the Atlantic Sun Conference Championships, she finished fifth in the conference in the triple jump, ninth in the high jump and 12th in the long jump.
Because a lot of the competitors ahead of her were seniors, Lazard was one of the favorites to have a break-out season in her sophomore year – right around the same time that little Aria became part of the plans.
Lazard said the idea of being a mother never made her upset or fearful. She said the thing that initially hurt her the most was the realization that she couldn’t compete with her teammates in the next season after all of the hard work that she had done to get to a position to thrive.
“I was shocked and really confused,” Lazard said, “I wouldn’t say I wasn’t happy, but I came around to the idea of it all. It was tough seeing my teammates practice and lift weights and I would just sit there like, ‘OK, is it my turn yet?’ That was the hardest part.”
Understanding that track was out of the picture for an indefinite period of time, Lazard spent a lot of her pregnancy at home with her family. She said the coaches and administration at Kennesaw were encouraging to her throughout, stressing to her that having a child is a blessing.
Lazard said that her pregnancy was initially smooth, but that complications came later when her step father Percy was tragically killed.
“By me being sad about that, it complicated things,” Lazard said. “Aria almost came like three times. It would have been too early.”
The baby finally was welcomed into life on Feb. 23, 2014 – a successful delivery. The name comes from Abby’s mother. Her father suggested that she pick a first name that starts with ‘A’.
The track and field standout said she remembers the day she hoisted the state championship trophy – an honor she worked for the entire first 17 years of her life.
But she said that holding her baby for the first time blows that experience out of the water – a memory that she will never forget.
“When I first saw Aria, I was in shock,” Lazard said. “I held her and didn’t want to let go. I was immediately in love. It was love at first sight.”
Since that time, Lazard said she’s enjoyed the full experience of being a mother. She’s had the sleepless nights and the late-night diaper changes. Lazard said she’s also learned all of the tricks of the trade faster than she ever expected that she would. She started as a total rookie to the job, but now knows when the baby is feeling well or when she might have a belly-ache and all of the other calls that moms have to make to maintain their child’s health and happiness.
But like any competitor would, Lazard said she got the itch to begin competing again shortly after Aria’s birth.
She said she considering giving up the sport briefly when she found out that she was pregnant, but those around her always encouraged her to keep going forward with her dreams, including her athletic plans post-pregnancy.
“I have to thank my circle for that,” Lazard said. “I have had so many positive people around me that told me that I could do it again.”
So it’s for that reason that Lazard is on the track three or four times a week, working hard to kick off all of the rust and to get back into the shape that she was in before being pregnant for Aria.
Lazard said she has a long way to go, but that she is more and more hopeful daily that she can reach her goal.
Others around her think the same thing. She has committed to continue her career at Southern – a move that will allow her to stay close to her child, while also juggling the task of being a student and an athlete.
“I’m taking her with me,” Lazard said. “There’s no way I could leave her.”
After-all, it’s because of Aria that this comeback story is happening. Lazard said she can’t wait for the day that she can make that massive leap that makes her baby girl smile with happiness.
“I’m not where I was before Aria, but I’m getting back there,” Lazard said. “I think I’m doing pretty well to say I took a year off.
“I’m pretty close to that level. I’ll be there in no time.”
Raceland native Abby Lazard poses on the track with her 5-month-old baby girl Aria. The Central Lafourche state champion athlete said this week that she plans to continue jumping, touting that the juggle between being a collegiate athlete and motherhood is something that she enjoys. Lazard has committed to Southern and will be jumping for the Lady Jaguars going forward.
