Christine Babcock


Christine Babcock 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.

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. Christine is the middle of three daughters.
Christine attended Woodbridge High School in Irvine, California. She graduated at the University of Washington 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 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. 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.
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 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 injury.
On November 30, 2011, she was named the "Pac-12 Scholar Athlete Of The Year" with a 3.93 grade point average.
YearCompetitionPlaceEvent
2008U.S. Olympic Trials18th1500m
2008Pac-10 XC3rd
2008NCAA Regional XC3rd
2008NCAA XC7th
2009MPSF TF2ndMile
2009MPSF TF1stDMR
2009NCAA Indoors8thDMR
2009Pac-10 TF3rd800m
2009NCAA Regional TF7th1500m
2009NCAA Outdoors11th1500m
2009Pac-10 XC5th
2009NCAA Regional XC10th
2009NCAA XC34th
2010Pac-10 XC19th
2010Regional XC19th
2010NCAA XC114th
2011Pac-12 XC12th
2011Regional XC14th
2011NCAA XC62nd
2012MPSF TF8th3000m
2012Pac-12 TF7th5000m
2012NCAA Prelims TF14th1500m
2013MPSF TF3rd3000m
2013MPSF TF1stDMR
2013NCAA Indoors13thMile
2013Pac-12 TF11th1500m
2013NCAA Prelims TF7th5000m
2013NCAA Outdoors11th5000m
2013USA Outdoor Champs11th5000m

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.