Oberlin College Athletics

Kristi Barksdale Sharp, born October 8, 1960, in Detroit, Michigan, Sharp attended Lutheran High School West (LHSW) where she was a member of the track team. She competed in the high jump, long jump, 100-meter dash, 100-meter hurdles, and 4 x 100-meter relay. Barksdale was a member of LHSW team that finished runner-up in the 1977 State of Michigan Class B Track and Field Championships. She ran the anchor leg of the record-setting state champion 4 x 100 relay team. Barksdale chose to attend Oberlin College "because I was looking for a small school not too far from home which had an excellent academic program and a track team." She enrolled in 1979. "I saw a slide presentation about the college by the local alumni group," she recalled, "then I came to visit and I loved it," she told Sports Information Director Frances Bobbe in an interview in 1982. Barksdale earned one letter in volleyball and four letters in track and field. During her junior track season in 1981, she qualified for the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) Division III national championships in the 100-meter hurdles and placed 11th. During her senior year, Barksdale was named the Most Valuable Player by her peers in the Ohio Association of Intercollegiate Sports for Women (OAISW) Track and Field Championships. She established a state record and placed first in the 100-meter hurdles and also won state titles in the 100- and 200-meter dashes. At the AIAW nationals in 1982, Barksdale finished second in the 100-meter hurdles (14.61) and third in the 100-meter dash (12.73), becoming the first All-American women athlete in the history of Oberlin College. She also placed seventh in the 200-meter dash (26.47). Barksdale graduated from Oberlin in 1982 with a degree in mathematics and went to work as an operations research analyst with the Department of the Army in Warren, Michigan. She currently works as a programs analyst for the Program Executive Office for Combat Support Vehicles. She is the team leader for budget preparation, testimony, and execution for the Army's major wheeled vehicles. She married Frederick Cornell Sharp in November 1988. They have a son, Frederick Allen, and reside in Southfield, Michigan.