MIDDLETOWN — Faced with a choice of either playing soccer or running cross country during the fall sports season, Middletown High School junior Kelsey Welton said she reached the only decision possible.
“I had to do both,” Welton said. “I”m a really competitive person. For me doing both is not a chore.”
The four-sport standout for the Mustangs is the Lake County Record-Bee Athlete of the Year for girls” sports during the recently completed 2007-08 high school sports season.
A first-team Coastal Mountain Conference selection in cross country and track, a second-team All-North Central League I North player in basketball, and a first-team selection in soccer as the Mustangs” star keeper, Welton is truly an athlete for all seasons, including a double dose in the fall.
The second of three daughters of Jamie and James Welton of Hidden Valley Lake — Kayla is a senior at Middletown and Ashlyn is a fifth-grader –? the 17-year-old Kelsey carries a 4.14 GPA at Middletown and hopes to enter the engineering field one day, just not quite yet.
Back from a two-week vacation in Mexico where she picked up at least one unwanted souvenir — a jellyfish sting — Welton said the first thing she wanted to do when she returned to the comfort of home in Hidden Valley was run … and run some more.
“The first week (of vacation) I was able to use a workout room at out hotel, but the second week we weren”t close to anything and the (nearby) beach was rocky, so I couldn”t run on it,” Welton said. “I couldn”t wait to get home and run. I ran 5 1/2 miles in the morning and 4 1/2 miles later that day and had blisters all over my feet.”
Ask Welton to describe herself and she”ll tell you this: “I”m a soccer player with running as a hobby. I love both.”
Juggling two sports in the fall really wasn”t a big deal, according to Welton, who said her coaches — Cia Dedmon in cross country and Louise Owens in soccer — were 100-percent behind her decision to compete in both. She never missed a soccer practice even on days when she ran between 2-3 miles during a cross country meet.
As far as meets and soccer games conflicting on the calendar, a prearranged deal between the coaches gave precedence to soccer depending on the importance of the game.
“If it was a big game, I would play soccer,” Welton said. “If it was a game where they probably wouldn”t need me, I would run.”
A soccer player since she can remember, Welton helped the Mustangs reach the North Coast Section Class A playoffs for the second straight year and was instrumental in a 2-1 opening-round win over Mendocino, the first postseason soccer win in school history.
“It would have to be beating Mendocino,” Welton said of her best memory of the soccer season. “The juniors and seniors playing on the team have been together since the sixth grade and we were a tight group. That was a big win.”
Welton is also active in club soccer and is currently playing Class I ball for Santa Rosa United. She previously played for Napa”s club team.
“This is my fifth year of Class I club soccer and I was in Class III for three years before that,” Welton said.
The bond between player and coach at Middletown during the 2007 soccer season was pretty strong, according to Welton.
“She”s a coach and a friend,” Welton said of Owens. “She”s tough, but she”s also a real positive influence for me. I feel she treats me like an adult, as an equal. She”s very supportive of me.”
“Kelsey has never missed a practice as long as I”ve coached her. She managed to run her cross country meet, get back to school and practice with the high school team and then drive down to Napa for her club practice, all in the same day,” Owens said. “She never asked for a break and even if I offered her one she wouldn”t take it.”
Dedmon was no less appreciative of Welton”s contributions to a cross country team that struggled for numbers this past season.
“She was the strongest runner on my team,” Dedmon said of Welton, who finished an impressive seventh in the CMC Championships, posting the best time (21 minutes, 48 seconds) by a Lake County runner in the field.
“She”s a fantastic teammate, a fantastic student,” Dedmon said. “I”m definitely proud of her.”
During the winter sports season, Welton was a starting post player for coach Marnin Pyzer”s varsity basketball team.
“That”s actually my dad”s sport,” Welton said. “But my middle school, I didn”t have a winter game to play, so I figured why not?”
Welton averaged nearly eight points a game and was a durable rebounder for the Mustangs.
“I”m more of a defensive player and rebounding is one of my favorite things to do,” she said.
“She”s a very good defensive player, smart, very intelligent,” Pyzer said. “She”s one of those girls who can really jump up there. She”s a top-notch defender.”
Welton was reunited with soccer coach Owens during the track season in the spring. Owens, who initiated the school”s fledgling track program three years ago, used Kelsey in the maximum number of events (four) each meet.
Welton competed in the 300-meter hurdles, the 800 and 1,600 at every meet. Her fourth event was either the 3,200 or the 4×400 relay, depending on where she was needed. Her most memorable meet took place at Lower Lake. While competing in the 300 hurdles, Welton ran the final half of the race jumping over hurdles that were set two inches higher (for the boys) than they should have been. It didn”t slow her down one bit.
“When I was jumping over the fifth hurdle, I said, ?This is not the right height,” and I actually said it out loud,” Welton recalls. “You wouldn”t think that two inches would make a big difference but it was quite a surprise.”
Welton still posted one of her best times of the season.
When she”s not running, bouncing a basketball or kicking the soccer ball, Welton enjoys swimming, reading murder mysteries and historical fiction, and hanging out with her close friends, including Amber Preusser, Myles Moffat, Emily Beckwith, Shelby Davis, Amber Begley and Sean Dinis.
