Christina Welsh runs during cross-country practice Nov. 4, 2013. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.)
In a world filled with what-ifs, the Hamilton High West girls’ cross country team stumbled upon one this autumn.
What if Christina Welsh actually started running for the Hornets as a freshman?
“Yeah, I do wonder what it would have been like if I started earlier,” said the senior after her first and last cross country season. “I wish I had more confidence my freshman year to go out and run.”
Her decision to eventually try wasn’t based on confidence as much as a way to fight boredom.
“I was like, ‘There’s no point in just sitting at home and not doing anything,’” she said.
This year, Welsh was a pleasant surprise from the very first regular-season meet, when she finished eighth overall out of a field of nearly 100 runners. Her highlight came on Oct. 25 at the Mercer County Championships, when she ran a medal-winning time of 20:33.37 to finish 24th. The top 25 runners get medals.
“We were happy to hear her name called,” coach Lauren Baldasari said. “I honestly didn’t know what to expect from her in that race, so for her to compete on a county level and get a medal in her only year of running is really exciting. ”
Welsh followed that up with another nice performance at Jamesburg’s Thompson Park, where her time of 20:58 placed her 33rd out of 103 runners in the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III race.
“I actually did not expect it to be as good as it was, I was just going out to do it for fun,” Welsh said. “I really liked running, and it worked out pretty well.”
Welsh never had any formal training growing up. She would run around her neighborhood or through Veterans Park just for fun.
“I always liked running,” she said. “I didn’t do it seriously. I was not fast or anything.”
When Welsh got to West, she decided to sign up for track as a freshman, but got cold feet.
“I didn’t know if I would be good at it,” she said. “So I just didn’t come out.”
Her schedule prohibited her from doing it as a sophomore, but she finally went out for spring track last year and ran distances.
“I liked it,” she said. “Everyone on the team was supportive and said I should come out. I actually got hurt at the end of the season so I never went to sectionals, but I really liked track.”
The experience prompted Welsh to try cross country this year. With numbers being thin on the girls side, Baldasari wasn’t about to turn anyone away, even if she wasn’t sure what Welsh would contribute.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” the coach said. “She said she ran. Usually when I ask people how much they run it’s like ‘I can run a couple miles or so.’ She said she ran five or six miles every day, so I had some higher expectations based on what she said. Said she had some experience, but I didn’t know what the competitive nature of it was all about.”
There really was no competitive experience, except for last year’s track. But she was beginning to learn how to run. And despite having legs a bit shorter than most distance runners, she has a lean build that she strengthened a bit in the summer.
“Getting to do different kind of workouts helped her a lot,” Baldasari said. “She has pretty good natural form. I know in her first cross country meet coming from track she was surprised at how different cross country was. She really didn’t know what to expect.”
“It was completely different,” Welsh said. “During a track race everyone is in the same place and all the spectators are just looking at you while you’re running. Cross country, you’re a little more by yourself, you’re in the woods, you’re alone most of the time. It’s a lot less stressful than when people are staring at you.”
It didn’t take long for Welsh to find her niche with the Hornets, and before long she was actually the team leader.
“She’s been an immense help to our team, having six freshmen and one sophomore this year,” Baldasari said. “A lot of them had never had running experience. To see her kind of running with the guys and having success it gives them a really good idea of where they can be in a few years.
“She was unsure coming in. She’s very humble, very surprised when people compliment her. She leads more by example just because she’s kind of unsure of herself in terms of taking a leadership role. That’s to be expected in your first year. But she’s very welcoming to younger girls, she’s very sweet.”
Welsh’s autumn was pretty jammed up, as she has been a member of the marching band’s percussion pit the last two years and has had to balance her schedule to make both work.
“She had band camp for three weeks in the summer,” Baldasari said. “She had to do a lot of workouts on her own and did a nice job of that.”
It all culminated at the county meet. With the underclassmen running in the JV meet, Welsh was the only orange and black uniform in the race.
“There were so many people there, and they were all really good,” she said. “I was really nervous. I’m always nervous before meets. I start out races kind of slow, and this race started out really fast. I thought I would come in near the end.
“I just had to make sure I kept my pace up. There was a hill you have to get up, I had to make sure I kept my pace up the hill and after that.”
She did just that to earn a medal, and is now thinking about running in college if possible.
“It depends on what school I go to,” said the honor student. “I’m looking at The College of New Jersey and Rutgers, so I might send them something.”
No matter how it turns out, at least she won’t be saying four years from now, “What if I had tried to run cross country in college?”
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