MIDDLETOWN — Add another first to Kelsey Welton”s stellar sports resume. The 2009 Middletown High School graduate is now the first Mustang to win Athlete of the Year honors in consecutive seasons.
Welton, who joins Clear Lake”s Kaila Sterbank as the recipient of the Record-Bee”s Athlete of the Year award for girls” sports based on accomplishment during the 2008-09 school year, is only the third Lake County athlete to repeat in the award”s history, joining other back-to-back winners Brittany Rumfelt of Clear Lake and Shannon Melville of Upper Lake (see the year-by-year winner”s list on Page A10).
Welton, 18, the daughter of Jamie and James Welton of Hidden Valley Lake, is headed to Long Beach State on a combination athletic (soccer) and academic scholarship. She was one of four Middletown High valedictorians in the Class of 2009, sporting a 4.57 GPA. She plans to pursue a degree in chemical engineering.
A throwback to the good ”ol days when high school athletes competed in every sport they could rather than specialize in one, which is in vogue these days, Welton once again lettered in four different sports for the Mustangs (soccer, cross country, basketball and track).
“I”m super competitive no matter what it is,” Welton said. “I”ve always been self-motivated. My parents started me off and are really supportive. They”ve never missed a game.”
Welton is so competitive, in fact, that she was once ejected from Middletown”s annual Powder Puff football game after getting into a physical altercation with a friend.
“We were friends before the fight and after the fight,” a smiling Welton said. “I guess we were carrying on the tradition,” she added of Middletown”s history of playing physical football on both sides of the line of scrimmage.
During her senior year at Middletown, Welton was honored as the North Central League I North co-MVP in soccer and basketball while leading the Mustangs to co-championships in both sports. She was the equivalent of an All-Leaguer in track, becoming the first Middletown girl to qualify for the Meet of Champions, the qualifier for the state championships. And Welton did it in an event she had never tried before this season — the triple jump.
“The triple jump wasn”t my main event … that was the 300 hurdles,” Welton said. “I missed qualifying for the Meet of Champions last year by two-tenths of a second.”
“Earlier in the season when we were restricted to the gym due to rain, our jumpers were doing a triple jump drill,” Middletown track coach Louise Owens said. “Kelsey finished her running workout, then noticed what they were doing and asked if she could give the drill a try. She ended up out-jumping most of our boys. So, naturally, I signed her up.”
Welton continued to improve with every meet and her high-water mark came last month in the North Coast Section Class A Championships in Santa Rosa where she cleared 34 feet, 3 inches, finishing second only to Clear Lake”s Anisa Green.
“The triple jump was more of a challenge than the long jump, I thought it required more skill, so I wanted to do it.” Welton said.
And it turned out to be the right choice. Although Welton ran a faster time in the 300 hurdles this year than last, she didn”t qualify for the Meet of Champions in that event, but she did in the triple jump.
Owens also coached Welton in soccer, where the standout keeper for the Mustangs helped them reach the semifinals of the North Coast Section Class A playoffs, where they lost to Sonoma Academy. They did beat Clear Lake 1-0 to reach the semifinals.
“She is vocal during practices, but in the games she lets us do it,” Welton said of Owens” coaching style. “She knows what to expect from her players and she expects more from her older, more experienced players. She”ll let you know about it, too, if she doesn”t think you”re doing enough.”
Though the Mustangs lost a handful of talented players to graduation following a playoff season in 2007, a younger version of the Mustangs proved even more lethal in 2008, posting a school-best 15-3-3 record.
“We definitely lost key players, but we were a lot more supportive as a whole team,” Welton said.
Younger players stepping up were another key, according to Welton.
“Players like Brittany Cash (freshman) and Katie August (sophomore) and, of course, Natalie Diaz (sophomore), really helped,” Welton said. “Katie stepped up big-time on defense.”
Though the Mustangs lost only three games all season, Welton remembers all of them.
“If it”s something I could have changed or done differently, I dwell on it,” Welton said. “But if I played my best I”m not disappointed.”
Between playing four sports and taking several advance placement classes at Middletown, including AP calculus, time management is one of Welton”s strengths.
“It doesn”t leave me a lot of spare time,” Welton said. “Usually I come home from a game, do my homework and go to bed.”
Having too much free time on the occasional open weekend sometimes leaves Welton a bit out of sorts.
“I really don”t know what to do with it because it seems like I”m always doing something (during the week),” Welton said.
A Lake County resident her entire life, Welton said she”ll miss the variety high school offered in terms of being able to play a smorgasbord of sports.
“At college, once you”re done with the fall (soccer) season, there”s a spring season,” Welton said.
She”ll also miss good friends Emily Beckwith and Amber Begley, and the tight-knit relationship the Mustangs developed during the 2008 soccer season.
“It”s exciting,” Welton said of the prospect of going off to college, “but I know it”s going to be tough for my mom,” Welton added of leaving home. “I”ve never really lived anywhere else.”
She needn”t worry. The Middletown welcome mat will always be out for her.
