Renaissance girl: State champ Valerie Welch views world differently

DES MOINES, Ia. — Most youngsters divide fractions in third grade. Maybe learn the state capitals, write cursive, start playing an instrument.

Valerie Welch was speaking the ancient language of Sanskrit.

Because way before she was a state track champion for Iowa City West, Welch spent a year at the Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment in Fairfield. She meditated in class. She ate home-grown vegetables at lunch. She learned alongside just nine other third- and fourth-girls, who were kept separate from the boys.

It was … different. She moved to Iowa City the following year.

"I didn’t like it, because all the pizza had vegetables on it," Welch laughed. "And I didn’t like vegetables."

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The Colorado signee holds five track and field records at West, and she’ll go down as one of the school’s greatest athletes. She won the Class 4A long jump and distance medley relay at the state meet Friday, and she took third with a personal best 1:03.21 in the 400 hurdles.

But her Maharishi experience is one of countless examples of how, beyond her athletic prowess, Welch is a modern Renaissance girl.

"She is hungry for knowledge," West track coach Mike Parker said. "She likes to know. She seeks out things that you might consider to be random knowledge, but to her it’s knowledge. And so she wants to collect all that she can, which makes her a very coachable athlete as well, because she likes to learn."

'A world beyond their own'

Welch’s mom, Kerry Mallon, grew up in Limerick, Ireland, and moved to the U.S. in her 20s. Her top goal as a mother? Immerse her two daughters in every environment she could.

"The more they see a world beyond their own, the more empathetic they can be toward others," Mallon said, "and the more knowledgeable they can be about the world in general.

"I just wanted them to realize there’s more outside your little world."

Thus, Welch has traveled to Canada, the United Kingdom and France, and she’ll spend a month this summer with family in England. She’s walked the streets of Time Square in New York City, and she’s gazed up at the majestic redwoods in California.

"That’s kind of how we were spoiled as kids," Welch said. "Not material things, but by traveling."

The results, Parker said, have been profound. He said Welch readily accepts different perspectives and applies them to her life. Or, in the coaching sense, she applies critiques to her running or jumping.

Welch only started the long jump last year, and now she’s a state champion. There’s a reason she picked up one of the sport’s most technical events so quickly, Parker said.

"Val listens with her eyes very well," the 20-year head coach said. "And I know that she wants to hear it. I wish every athlete was that way."

Added fellow state champion and friend Bailey Nock: "She gets it. She gets everything."

A unique recruitment

Welch had a mantra during her nationwide recruitment.

"First it was, 'Do you have a good engineering program?' Then it was, 'Do you have a good track program?'" she said.

Kansas employed one of its engineering professors to try to land Welch. Parker said the professor called Welch and tried to persuade her that Kansas’ engineering department surpassed that of Michigan, Welch's front-runner at the time.

Colorado joined the fray the winter of Welch’s junior year. She wants to study biochemical engineering, and Colorado, with its renowned graduate programs in biological and chemical engineering, immediately shot to the top of the list.

Welch committed that spring. She picked the Buffs over a host of schools, but mainly Michigan and Kansas, Parker said.

"Ninety percent of our athletes, it’s, 'How great is their team? Have they won the NCAA Championships lately? Are they an Adidas gear team? Our traveling: Do we fly or have to take the bus?'" Parker said. "But Val really never asked me those questions. It was so zeroed in on the academic end.

"What we think athletically, ‘You want to be the best in the country in the 100-meter hurdles.' She wants to be the best in the country as an engineer … and give back to the track program what they’re giving to her. And that’s a whole, whole lot of money."

Important money, too.

Mallon works for the U.S. Post Office. Welch’s dad, Ted, works in social services in Des Moines. Mallon said she told her kids she wouldn’t be able to afford college, and that they’d need to figure out how to pay for it.

Roisin, Welch's older sister, went the academic route and attends Iowa State. Valerie ultimately took the athletic route, although her smarts likely would’ve covered costs, too.

"When it works out for somebody like that, it’s a special feeling," Parker said.

Not a coincidence ... 

At the time Mallon lived there, Ireland’s only Olympic-sized track sat right at home in Limerick.

"We used it," she said. "The local kids, we’d put on our own Olympics."

Mallon said they’d run steeplechase and use the pole vault equipment that was always left there. They’d stretch their limits and try every event they could.

Hmm ... sounds a bit like her state champion daughter.

Matthew Bain covers preps, recruiting and the Hawkeyes for the Iowa City Press-Citizen, The Des Moines Register and HawkCentral. Contact him at mbain@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @MatthewBain_.