Christine Babcock

Last updated

Christine Babcock
Personal information
Full nameChristine Babcock
NationalityFlag of the United States (23px).png  United States
Born Laguna Hills, California
Sport
Sport Track and Field
Event(s) 800 meters, 1500 meters, 1600 meters

Christine Babcock (born 19 May 1990) is an American former long-distance runner. She is an Oiselle professional athlete and competed in the US Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon as a high school athlete. She set two national high school records at the distances of 1500 and 1600 meters respectively. Running for the Washington Huskies track and field program, she was a two-time All-American collegiate athlete. She represented the United States internationally at the 2015 Pan American Cross Country Cup, where she won the team gold medal. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Babcock was born in Laguna Hills, California. Her parents met at a running club and her mother, Kelly Babcock, competed in the 1984 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. [2] Christine is the middle of three daughters. [2]

Christine attended Woodbridge High School in Irvine, California. [2] She graduated at the University of Washington in 2013. [2]

Athletic career

High school

Babcock's first major victory in track and field came by winning the girls' 2006 outdoor 1600 meter CIF California State Meet title in 4:41.29 (with a margin of over 1 second) as a sophomore. [3]

During the following cross country season, she won the CIF Division II State Championships by 13 second with a time of 17:20. [4] In the spring she won her second straight 1600 meter state title in 4:38.85, a new California Interscholastic Federation Record at the time. [5]

In her senior year, Babcock again won the State cross country Division II title, this time in the fastest time of the meet, 17:04. In 2008 track, she won her third straight CIF state meet by 16 seconds in the 1600 meters, was a national high school record of 4:33.82 [2] until 2014 when Alexa Efraimson ran faster at the Washington State meet. Additionally, she won the Mt. SAC Relays 1500 meter race in 4:16.42, at the time a national record. [2] This allowed her to qualify for the 2008 Olympic Trials. [2] Her record would later be broken by Jordan Hasay at the 2008 US Olympic trials in a time of 4:14.50.

College

In the 2008 cross country season, Babcock led the University of Washington to the program's first NCAA championship. [2] She was the first finisher for the Huskies, at seventh place overall, with a time of 20:02. [2] In track, she set a personal best time of 4:15.10 in the 1500 meters at the NCAA National Championship preliminaries. She later went on to finish 11th in the finals.

2009 led to another All-American performance in cross country, with Babcock finishing 34th nationally. Her team finished 3rd nationally. [2] She also placed fifth in the Pac-10 Conference championships.

In January 2010 Babcock stopped running due to an injury in her right foot. [2] Her athletic hiatus lasted seven months. [2] She then missed the 2011 season due to an Achilles tendon injury. [2]

On November 30, 2011, she was named the "Pac-12 Scholar Athlete Of The Year" with a 3.93 grade point average. [2] [6]

YearCompetitionPlaceEvent
2008U.S. Olympic Trials18th1500m
2008Pac-10 XC3rd(3rd UW)
2008NCAA Regional XC3rd(1st UW)
2008NCAA XC7th(1st UW) (All-America)
2009MPSF TF2ndMile
2009MPSF TF1stDMR (MPSF Champion)
2009NCAA Indoors8thDMR (All-America)
2009Pac-10 TF3rd800m
2009NCAA Regional TF7th1500m
2009NCAA Outdoors11th1500m
2009Pac-10 XC5th(3rd UW)
2009NCAA Regional XC10th(5th UW)
2009NCAA XC34th(4th UW) (All-America)
2010Pac-10 XC19th(5th UW)
2010Regional XC19th(3rd UW)
2010NCAA XC114th(4th UW)
2011Pac-12 XC12th(2nd UW)
2011Regional XC14th(5th UW)
2011NCAA XC62nd(3rd UW)
2012MPSF TF8th3000m
2012Pac-12 TF7th5000m
2012NCAA Prelims TF14th1500m
2013MPSF TF3rd3000m
2013MPSF TF1stDMR (MPSF Champion)
2013NCAA Indoors13thMile (All-America Second Team)
2013Pac-12 TF11th1500m
2013NCAA Prelims TF7th5000m
2013NCAA Outdoors11th5000m (All-America Second Team)
2013USA Outdoor Champs11th5000m

Professional

Beginning in 2013, Babcock was sponsored by Oiselle and trained under coach Lauren Fleshman in Bend, Oregon. [7] She is now retired from professional running and is working in the medical field. [7]

2015 Boulder USA Cross Country Championships Christine Babcock placed 13th. [8]

YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
2015 USA Cross Country Senior Flatirons Golf Course, Boulder, Colorado 13th8000 m29:06 [9]
2015 Pan American Cross Country Avenida al Río Golf Course, Barranquilla, Colombia 9th7000 m22:03 [10] [11]

Personal life

Babcock is a Christian. [2]

Performance at select events

CompetitionResultTimeDistanceLocationDate
2006 CIF State Championships1st4:41.291600 m Cerritos 2006–6–3
2006 CIF State Championships1st17:205000 m Fresno 2006-11-25
2007 CIF State Championships1st4:38.851600 m Sacramento 2007–6–2
2007 CIF State Championships1st17:045000 m Fresno 2007-11-24
2008 CIF State Championships1st4:33.82 NR1600 m Cerritos 2008–5–31
Mt. SAC High Performance Challenge1st4:16.421500 m Walnut 2008–6–15

Personal bests

DistanceMarkDateLocation
800 m2:06.552009-04-11 Tempe, Arizona
1,500 m4:16.102009-05-23NCAA prelims
1,600 m4:33.822008-05-31 Cerritos, California

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References

  1. Christine Babcock at World Athletics OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Reid, Scott (May 10, 2013). "Pac-12 track: Babcock now on peaceful journey". Orange County Register. Retrieved January 16, 2023.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on May 17, 2008. Retrieved June 17, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. Woodbridge's Babcock gets top honor, by Miguel A. Melendez of OCVarsity
  5. "California Interscholastic Federation". Archived from the original on June 21, 2010.
  6. "Babcock Named Pac-12 Scholar Athlete of the Year - University of Washington Official Athletic Site". Archived from the original on February 1, 2012. Retrieved October 27, 2012.
  7. 1 2 "The Flyway - Christine Babcock Takes Chances". OISELLE. Retrieved January 16, 2023.
  8. "List of participants" (PDF). www.legacy.usatf.org. 2015. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
  9. "2015 USA CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS SENIOR WOMEN'S 8K - USA Track & Field - Results" (PDF). usatf.org . Retrieved September 15, 2016.
  10. "COPA PANAMERICANA DE CROSS COUNTRY Barranquilla - Colombia, Febrero 22 de 2015" (PDF). americasathletics.org. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
  11. "APA Pan American Cross Country Cup February 22, 2015 Barranquilla, Colombia". usatf.org . Retrieved September 15, 2016.