Bio

Lynsey Payne has served as Baker's dance coach since 2008 and has helped develop the program into one of the top competitive dance teams in the NAIA.

Payne has been a leader in the National Athletic Trainer's Association and NAIA Executive Committee for Competitive Cheer and Dance for many years. She was vital in the development of the sports of competitive cheer and dance becoming NAIA national championship varsity sports, as she served as the President of the NAIA Executive Committee for Competitive Cheer and Dance, as the sports became varsity recognized sports in 2016-17.

In 2023, Payne led the Baker dance team to capture a national championship after taking first place in the team performance category at the DTU College Classic, held in Orlando, Fla.

Under Payne’s leadership, the Wildcats won three conference titles over a four-year stretch, including back-to-back championships after coming out on top in both the 2022 and 2023 Heart Dance Championships.

She was named Heart of America Coach of the Year after the Wildcats won the conference title in 2020. The 2020 squad featured nine All-Americans, the most in the NAIA that year and the most in any single year in Baker dance history.

In 2018, coach Payne once again led her team to an at-large big to the NAIA National Competitive Dance Championship in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where the Wildcats finished in the Top 10.

In 2017, her dance team took home 3rd place at the 2017 NAIA Competitive Dance National Championship in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and her team became Baker's first-ever recipient of the Buffalo Funds NAIA Champion of Character Team Award. Baker became the only competitive dance team across the NAIA to earn the honor.

Payne was also named the 2017 Heart of America Athletic Conference Coach of Character award winner.

Her teams have been awarded with ten Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete awards and 14 NAIA All-America recipients.

Her dance team took seventh nationally at the NAIA National Championship in 2016 and took 6th in 2015.

In 2013, her Dance team took fourth-place nationally in the Small Dance Category and 16th in the Hip Hop Category in Daytona Beach, Fla.

While also serving as dance coach, Payne won back-to-back National titles in the NDA/NAIA Small Dance category in 2011 and 2012.

Prior to joining Baker, Payne, a native of Topeka, Kan., served area events through the Kansas Center for Athletic Medicine. During the 2004-2005 season, Payne held an internship position with the Topeka Tarantulas, formerly of the Central Hockey League.

Payne earned her bachelor's degree in athletic training from the University of Kansas in 2004 and her master's in sports administration from the University of Kansas in 2005.

Payne is a licensed athletic trainer through the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts, a certified athletic trainer through the Board of Certification, a member of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, Mid-America Athletic Trainers’ Association, and the Kansas Athletic Trainers’ Society.