Consol's Warren comes from family of runners
Kelsie Warren comes from what A&M Consolidated cross country coach Rodney Wellmann approvingly calls a running family, but Warren didn't always have happy feet.
Just a freshman, Warren already is the No. 2 runner on the Consol cross country team that will compete in the District 12-5A meet Thursday.
Warren brings distance running bloodlines to the Tiger program. Her mother Wendie, whose maiden name is Landphair, ran on two state championship teams under former Consol coach James Giese.
So, you figure Kelsie has loved running as long as she can remember? Not by a long shot.
"I used to hate running," Warren said. "In the fifth grade all of a sudden I had a passion for running. I started running a few laps and I realized that I was actually good at it and enjoyed it."
Warren has been better than good for Consolidated. She already has clocked a time of 11 minutes, 41 seconds over two miles. That put Warren into 10th place on Consol's all-time cross country list and made her one of the fastest freshmen in school history.
Brooke Stewart set what is believed to be the best time for a Consol freshman when she ran 11:36.
"If Kelsie's this fast as a freshman, I've got to believe the sky's the limit for this girl," Wellmann said.
Consol won the boys and girls state cross country championships in the fall of 1984 when Wellmann was a freshman and Wendie Landphair was a senior.
"Kelsie comes from a running family," Wellmann said. "We live in the same neighborhood and I see her running all the time with her mom. They get it. There's no secret about running. If you run more than the typical girl, you're going to beat her."
Warren would be the No. 1 runner on a typical cross country team. Wellmann figures she'd be the fastest on 90 percent of the teams in the state. However, Consol's top runner is junior Karis Jochen, who at No. 24 in the national rankings is the top-rated girl in Texas.
"It's so fun," Warren said. "Karis is a good motivator. It's good to have someone like her on your team to set your goals. It would be nice to be No. 1, but with Karis you're not slowed down, that's for sure. She makes you want to push to get better."
Warren has run faster and climbed higher in the Consol lineup than she expected.
"Going into it I was just excited for the whole experience," Warren said. "I was just hoping to break 12 minutes. I didn't expect to get the times I've been getting."
NOTES -- The District 12-5A meet will be held at the Top Tier Training course near Cooks Point. The meet will start with varsity girls at 9 a.m. ... The other members of the Consol lineup are Taylor McGinnis, Harmoni Whittenton, Chaiss Matthews, Montana Caler and Laura Casper. ... Jochen is the defending individual champion. The Consol boys and girls both finished second in the team standings last year. Harker Heights won the boys title and Temple claimed the girls championship. ... The top three teams will advance to the Region II meet.