MIDDLETOWN >> Let the discussion begin about which sister — Ashlyn or Kelsey — is the better athlete in the Welton family.
One thing not up for debate is the winner of the Lake County Record-Bee’s Athlete of the Year award for girls’ sports. That would be one Ashlyn Welton, 18, who graduated from Middletown High School in late May. Welton becomes only the fourth athlete in the 29-year history of the award to receive it in back-to-back seasons. She joins an elite group that includes older sister Kelsey (2008, 2009), also of Middletown; Brittany Rumfelt (2006, 2007) of Clear Lake High School; and Shannon Melville (1989, 1990) of Upper Lake High School.
“I’m the better athlete,” a smiling Ashlyn said with absolutely no hesitation when asked to compare herself to sister Kelsey. “She knows I’m the better athlete, too.”
Welton’s repeat performance during the 2015-16 season was record-breaking in many ways. In soccer, the Mustangs won an eighth straight North Central League I championship and just missed a trip to the North Coast Section Division III championship game for the third time in four years following a heartbreaking 2-1 double-overtime loss to top seed and eventual champion Sonoma Academy in the semifinals. In basketball, Welton helped lead Middletown to a school-record 23 victories and a second straight league title as the Mustangs shared the NCL I top spot with Kelseyville. They also won in the opening round of the NCS Division IV playoffs (as did Kelseyville), ending a long run of futility by county teams in Division IV postseason play.
And then there was that little matter of breaking the school scoring record. Welton passed Tyler Hunt to become the Mustangs’ all-time scoring leader with 1,314 points, which ranks her eighth on the all-time list of county scorers, including fourth among county girls. Never mind that everyone and their brother knew that Welton was the go-to person in Middletown’s offense during a 23-7 season in 2015-16. Accustomed to double- and triple-teams as well as every other trick defense in the book, she scored anyway, averaging 16.2 points a game and pulling down nearly as many rebounds (she finished her stellar career with more than 1,000).
Courted by many colleges, especially during the latter stages of her high school career, Welton chose to go with College of the Siskiyous in Weed where she will play both soccer and basketball for the Eagles. Having accomplished so much on the soccer pitch and basketball court for the Mustangs, you might be surprised by Welton’s answer when asked what she would like to be remembered for — her legacy if you will — at Middletown.
“My sportsmanship,” she said. “I don’t want to be remembered as the girl who was really good but was that bitch. That wasn’t me. After games refs would come up to me and compliment me on my sportsmanship.”
It wasn’t always easy, according to Welton, who took her fair share of outright abuse – verbal and physical – especially on the basketball court.
“People would try to take me out like I was the only one on the team who could score, which wasn’t the case,” Welton said. “We had a lot of good players and my success is due to my teammates. The only reason I could do what I did was because they did what they did.
“I was pushed, hit, punched, kneed, shoved to the floor, shoved on the floor,” she said.
Her reaction more times than not was pure amusement.
“Most of the time it just made me laugh. It wasn’t going to stop me from what I needed to do. It just made me more determined,” Welton said.
Welton’s coach in basketball, Anthony Bazzano, prepared her at season’s start for what she could expect.
“He told me, ‘You’re going to get it all season, so get used to it,’ and he added some choice words.”
Pursuing the school’s scoring record created some added pressure but Welton said she used it as motivation whenever possible.
“Everyone around school encouraged me,” she said. “When the season started I just wanted to get to 1,000 points, but I kept setting goals from there. My teammates supported me the whole way. When I found out I was so close to the school record, I wanted it.”
Nothing could adequately prepare Welton or her teammates, especially in soccer, for what was to set the tone at Middletown for the entire 2015-16 school year. That would be the ultra-destructive Valley Fire in September of 2015, a disaster that cost many of her friends their homes and everything they owned.
Welton and her soccer teammates had a front-row seat for the start of the fire. They were playing a home game against St. Bernard of Eureka on Sept. 12 and flames in the nearby hills were clearly visible from the soccer field as the game progressed.
“I was the goalie that game and we started smelling (burning) stuff. We could see the flames but I didn’t think it was going to reach Hidden Valley Lake (where Welton lives). I was thinking they should probably stop this game but no word had reached us yet. Finally we got the call it was headed our way and Hidden Valley was going to be evacuated. One of my teammates (Aly Ferguson) told me her house was on fire. We decided it was time to get the hell out of there.”
Welton’s home was spared in Hidden Valley Lake but it was a close call. She spent the next three weeks living at her sister’s home in Clearlake. Welton said she didn’t know if her house was still standing until many days later.
“Seven or eight of my teammates lost houses in Cobb, Hidden Valley and Middletown,” she said.
When the Mustangs finally returned to school a few weeks later, the general consensus of opinion coming from outside the high school was that it would be OK for Middletown to write off the soccer season given the scope of the disaster. Welton said the Mustangs wanted nothing to do with that kind of thinking, and they didn’t want anyone to feel sorry for them.
“We bonded closer than I’ve ever seen teammates bond before,” Welton said. “We were determined to not let anything stop us. There were a lot of seniors on that team and we wanted to win another league title and go out by reaching the (section) championship game. We came so close.”
Sonoma Academy finally did end Middletown’s season in the playoffs but only after a gracious move on the part of the Coyotes, who played the semifinal-round game at Middletown even though they were the higher seed and entitled to host it. Sonoma Academy nevertheless wanted the Middletown players to enjoy one last home game in front of their own fans given all they had been through in the preceding weeks.
A standout defender for Middletown in soccer, Welton earned All-League first-team honors. She did one better in basketball by being named most valuable player for a second year in a row. While she didn’t play a spring sport, Welton, who plans on pursuing a career in psychology/criminology, said she could have and it most likely would have been track because running is part of her training regimen.
Her best moment at Middletown occurred during her senior season when the Mustangs dominated Fortuna 59-43 in the opening round of the Division IV basketball playoffs at home.
“We really wanted that,” Welton said of the playoff victory on the homecourt.
College of the Siskiyous, the lucky recipient of Welton’s services for the next two years, has kept an eye on Middletown’s rising star for many seasons.
“He really wanted me,” Welton said of Siskiyous women’s basketball head coach Tom Powers. “Both of the coaches (soccer and basketball) wanted me to play and they’re both good with me playing two sports.”
Where Welton ends up in the Siskiyous basketball lineup is another matter. A center in high school, she could end up playing any number of positions for the Eagles because she has the overall game to do it. She can dribble and shoot the ball from outside the paint.
During a recent summer league game in Redding, she scored 18 points for the Eagles, only two of which came from within the paint. At a high school All-Star game last month in Santa Rosa, she played point guard.
“The offense they run (at Siskiyous) is totally different from the offense we ran here (at Middletown),” Welton said of the Eagles. “They have five incoming freshmen.”
Welton has high praise for the coach she’s leaving behind at Middletown, Bazzano.
“I think Anthony has helped me a lot, not only with sports but helping me find my true self,” Welton said. “I’ve had some tough times, this year especially, and he helped me get through them as did many of my teachers and my teammates who were always there for me when I needed them. I couldn’t have done it without their help.
“Another thing about Anthony. He never made the game not fun for me,” Welton added. “He always knew how to motivate me and push me.”
Welton said the toughest thing about leaving Middletown is the friends she will no longer see on a daily basis. Her best friend, three-sport star Teanne Edens of Cloverdale High School, is headed to Nebraska to continue her educational and athletic career.
“I’m really going to miss her,” Welton said.
When her two years at Siskiyous are complete, Welton said she hopes to transfer to Humboldt State to complete her collegiate career. While her current plans include playing basketball as long as she can, her soccer run might end after this coming season.
“But I’m not ready to leave it yet,” she said.
Welton won’t have trouble keeping busy at Siskiyous where she will be rooming with another Lake County athlete, Brooke Taliaferro. a Lower Lake High School graduate. Taliaferro is playing volleyball for the Eagles this coming season.
“I’ll be taking 19 units and playing two sports while holding down a job,” Welton said. “That’s probably enough.”
