Christie Linnard often races from track practice at La Jolla High, across town to Bishop’s School in time for lacrosse practice or games. The sophomore is a multi-sport student athlete who doubles up during the spring sports season.
“I had to rearrange my schedule so that I was 50 percent in lacrosse, and 50 percent in track, for practices and events,” she says, somewhat breathlessly at a rare time when she isn’t participating in cross country (fall), soccer (winter), or her other two sports as a Knight.
“I got into running originally as conditioning for lacrosse,” Linnard smiles. “Now track, then cross country, are my top two sports.”
In running her leg on the Bishop’s relay teams in track, her propensity to jab her elbows out to the side as she pumps her arms, “You normally want to move your arms forward, to propel yourself more,” has led head track coach Rodney Jones to place her on the curves. “I do it naturally, maybe out of habit, because in lacrosse and soccer you move toward the ball using your body and arms (to create space),” she says. Though she’s not trying to gain an unfair advantage, “Putting my arms out to the side helps me (in traffic alongside other runners during races).”
That means in the 4 x 100-meter relay, Christie is assigned the third leg, which comes at the curved end of the oval. One foursome Linnard has run with this year ran a time of 52.08 seconds in a Coastal Conference meet. In the 4 x 400-meter relay, Linnard and her teammates finished in a time of 4:17.07 in the league finals.
She has a 2:19.71 personal best in the 800 meters, recorded at last year’s section finals, which was good for ninth in Division 2. She has been slowed by an injury this year but achieved a time of 2:20.54 in the section prelims.
Jennifer Melaragno, Linnard’s math teacher, gets to see her student in varied settings: Honors Algebra 2 class in the mornings, cross country and track after school. “She was a team captain in cross country. That’s pretty rare as a sophomore,” says Melaragno. “She runs with the boys because we don’t have any girls that can keep up with her. Some of the boys can’t, either.”
In the classroom, Linnard, who has a 3.8 grade-point average, prefers chemistry and other sciences. “There is one answer if you keep exploring,” she reasons. “It’s not like English, which is subjective. In science, you can go further and find the facts.”
Comments Meghan Carr, Bishop’s lacrosse coach now in her 12th year, “The best thing about Christie, with her multi-sport athleticism, her speed, and her understanding of the field coming from soccer, she’s huge in our transitional, going from defense to attack, and one of our leading scorers–a true athlete in the best sense of the word.”