Christine Babcock is a two-time all-American
collegiate athlete in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
.
She is an Oiselle professional athlete and is best known for being one of only a few high school athletes to compete in the 2008
US Olympic Trials in
Eugene, Oregon and for setting two national high school records at the distances of
1500
Year 1500 ( MD) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. The year 1500 was not a leap year in the Proleptic Gregorian calendar.
The year was seen as being especially important by many Christians in Europe, who thought i ...
and
1600 meters.
Early life and education
Babcock was born in
Laguna Hills, California
Laguna Hills (; ''Laguna'', Spanish for "Lagoon") is a city in south Orange County, California, United States. Its name refers to its proximity to Laguna Canyon and the much older Laguna Beach. Other newer cities nearby— Laguna Niguel and L ...
. Her parents met at a running club and her mother, Kelly Babcock, competed in the 1984 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials.
Christine is the middle of three daughters.
Christine attended
Woodbridge High School in
Irvine, California
Irvine () is a master-planned city in South Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the 1960s and the city was formally incorporated on December 28, 197 ...
.
She graduated at the
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...
in 2013.
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.
During the following cross country season, she won the CIF Division II State Championships by 13 second with a time of 17:20.
[Woodbridge's Babcock gets top honor](_blank)
by Miguel A. Melendez of OCVarsity In the spring she won her second straight 1600 meter state title in 4:38.85, a new
California Interscholastic Federation
The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) is the governing body for high school sports in the U.S. state of California. CIF membership includes both public and private high schools. Unlike most other state organizations, it does not have a ...
Record at the time.
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
until 2014 when
Alexa Efraimson
Alexa Efraimson (born February 20, 1997) is an American professional middle distance runner from Camas, Washington who competes for Nike. During the 2014 indoor and outdoor season, as a junior, she set a pair of U.S. high-school records, break ...
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.
This allowed her to qualify for the 2008 Olympic Trials.
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.
She was the first finisher for the Huskies, at seventh place overall, with a time of 20:02.
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.
She also placed fifth in the
Pac-10 Conference championships.
In January 2010 Babcock stopped running due to an injury in her right foot.
Her athletic hiatus lasted seven months.
She then missed the 2011 season due to an
Achilles tendon
The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcaneus ( ...
injury.
On November 30, 2011, she was named the "Pac-12 Scholar Athlete Of The Year" with a 3.93 grade point average.
Professional
Beginning in 2013, Babcock was sponsored by Oiselle and trained under coach
Lauren Fleshman in
Bend, Oregon.
She is now retired from professional running and is working in the medical field.
2015 Boulder USA Cross Country Championships Christine Babcock placed 13th.
Personal life
Babcock is a Christian.
Performance at select events
Personal bests
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Babcock, Christine
Living people
American female middle-distance runners
Track and field athletes from California
Sportspeople from Orange County, California
People from Laguna Hills, California
Year of birth missing (living people)
21st-century American women