Former Shocker preparing athletes for the Paris Olympics

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — The 2024 Olympic Games begin Friday, and one former Shocker will be there coaching athletes to success.

Wichita native Mellanee Welty grew up in the ICT. She attended Maize High School, and before becoming the decorated track and field coach she is today, Welty was a Wichita State Shocker.

“At the conference meet, I would kind of do the heptathlon, plus pole vault, long jump, high jump, triple jump, javelin… anything else I could score points in was kind of what I did in the Missouri Valley, when we were Missouri Valley,” explained Welty.

Between 1996 and 2001, Welty became an NCAA All-American, and was named Missouri Valley Conference Athlete of the Meet multiple times.

“I scored 43 points one time at a conference meet and just did all the events within a two or three day period,” she explained, “I did a lot when it came to the conference meets.”

Welty’s original plan once she graduated was to attend med school. But that suddenly changed when the then Illinois State track and field head coach reached out.

“Jeff Pigg, who was an Illinois State at the time, he had seen me compete. He was really like, ‘Hey, just come and look, and I really want to hire you.’ And I was like, ‘I don’t know.’ So I went on to interview and I loved it and then said, you know in my mind… ‘I’ll give you a year or two, and then I’m getting out of this.'”

She started coaching under Pigg’s leadership in 2002. Then, when Pigg got a job offer at the University of Florida, Welty followed.

“[I] absolutely loved it and loved the tradition of it and trying to be really, really good,” said Welty.

She left for a couple of years to coach at Louisville and a couple other schools. When Florida combined the men’s and women’s track and field programs in 2007, Welty returned, and she hasn’t left since.

Over the past 17 seasons with the Gators, Welty has coached many Olympic athletes. A handful of them are heading to Paris.

“I’ve helped coach with the quarter-milers and sprinters. Probably at least 10 to 12 Olympians. And then this summer, Anna Hall qualified, obviously for the Olympics. And I do a lot a lot more hands on stuff with her,” said the decorated coach.

Welty helped Hall become the American indoor pentathlon record-holder, 2022 World Championship heptathlon bronze medalist, and the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials Champion.

She’s also working with about six other athletes heading to this year’s Olympics, including U.S. Olympic Trials 100 meter hurdles bronze medalist Grace Stark, and a few members of the Jamaican national team.

Welty’s passion for coaching reignites every time she sees the success of the people she’s impacted.

“Their goal in track and field is, ‘I want to be an Olympian.’ And, you know, we have World Championships every other year and that’s cool. But then there’s the Olympics, which are totally different. And to see them achieve that, which is the ultimate goal, always is so rewarding and so fun,” said Welty.

As she and the talent she coaches prepare for Paris, Welty has also reflected on her own journey, which started in Wichita.

Welty stated, “Wichita, you know, is in my blood. I still go home and my mom and dad still live there. And to be born there and have the opportunity to compete at Wichita State and know that was kind of the start always of my journey of where I got to…. To have Bryan Compton and Scott Stephen and all of my other coaches, and Steve Rainboldt was there my last year. To know that they helped grow me into who I am today and teach me that there’s good days and bad days and there’s hard days and there’s fun days, but just keep persevering through all of it.
It’s so fun to know that Wichita, Kansas, of all places, is where I started and still where I call home.”

Welty leaves for France July 24. She has a chance to coach her first individual Olympic medalist of her coaching career.

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