By Craig Morgan, thesundevils.com Writer
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Chelsey Totten was suspicious when she arrived at the Barnes & Noble near Santa Clarita, California with her parents two summers ago. Her boyfriend, CJ Albertson, looked nothing like the guy she knew, as he stood, red-faced and nervous in a narrow aisle.
"He was all dressed up in brand new clothes and he was cleanly shaven so I knew something was up," she said, laughing. "Usually, he's in basketball shorts."
In plain view of scores of book seekers, coffee drinkers and store employees, CJ got down on one knee, pulled out a ring and offered Chelsey the greatest commitment he could propose while Chelsey's father filmed the entire event.
"We laugh about it when we watch the film because there's this woman intently looking for a book right next to us," Chelsey (now Albertson) said. "She doesn't even realize what's happening."
As the two Sun Devils each enter the final year of their cross country careers in Tempe as team captains and the squad's only married couple, they offer a unique perspective and level of maturity to their teammates.
"I've had athletes in the past who got married and it was a distraction -- especially leading up to the marriage because they weren't focused on what we needed to get done, but there's a level of maturity with these two that actually makes it a benefit," Sun Devils coach Louie Quintana said. "Both of them are super dialed in and they are our two best runners. The men and women on our teams all go to them for guidance and they lead all of our practices. They're both such great kids and so committed that it has been a really positive influence on our team."
Both runners have high expectations as they enter the final season of their collegiate careers. In their first meet of the season -- the George Kyte Invitational -- this past weekend, CJ took the top spot in the men's field of 100 runners with Chelsey placing 2nd in the women's event. With familiar course and climate conditions as advantages, Quintana believes they can both finish in the top 10 at the Pac-12 Championships on Oct. 28 in Tucson (Chelsey was 28th last year; CJ was 35th). CJ has the added goal of earning All-America status (top 40) at the NCAA Championships.
"I want to jump up to that elite level," said CJ, who was a marquee recruit. "I've always felt I belonged in that elite group and I feel that I haven't performed up to it. I think the key will be staying consistent all season and staying physically, mentally and emotionally stable so I can race well."
While CJ has always had the mindset that he is and deserves to be the best, Quintana said achieving that attitude is a work in progress with Chelsey.
"The moment I started working with her, just by her biomechanics and the way she moved I was like 'wow!' You could see she was an elite, next-level athlete," Quintana said. "For her not to believe was kind of confounding to me so over the last 18 months we have tried to push the envelope in her training so that she's so supremely fit that she's breaking down some of these mental barriers she put up for herself."
Chelsey said marriage to CJ has been a major plus in that regard. Aside from being able to understand what is a shared experience and working through the entire regimen together from dawn to dusk, CJ's mindset has had an impact.
"He's very confident and wants to be the best so living with that attitude, it does rub off," she said. "I figure if he's going to be the best I want to be the best, too. If he's going to nationals I want to go, too."
Marital life hasn't altered their relationship much, but both know that when this season ends the changes will be more dramatic. CJ wants to coach at the college or community college level while Chelsey wants to go to nursing school. With no idea where they will be a year from now, both are trying to soak up the final year at ASU and all it has to offer.
It is, after all, the place where they met and the place where they enjoyed their first date.
"She ended up going clothing shopping with me because she joked I didn't have any good clothes," CJ said, laughing.
What was originally termed a clothes-shopping date morphed into three hours of talking at Barnes & Noble in Tempe Marketplace, however. That is why CJ chose the location of his marriage proposal. It had historical significance.
After a year of planning, the two were married in an outdoor ceremony in Camarillo, California, with 150 guests, including most of their teammates joining in the celebration.
"It was way more fun than I anticipated it to be," CJ said. "It was like your whole life being brought together in one moment -- everyone I'd ever been close to was there to see me marry the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I see why people in other cultures will have weeklong weddings now because once it ended I just wanted it to keep going."
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Chelsey Totten was suspicious when she arrived at the Barnes & Noble near Santa Clarita, California with her parents two summers ago. Her boyfriend, CJ Albertson, looked nothing like the guy she knew, as he stood, red-faced and nervous in a narrow aisle.
"He was all dressed up in brand new clothes and he was cleanly shaven so I knew something was up," she said, laughing. "Usually, he's in basketball shorts."
In plain view of scores of book seekers, coffee drinkers and store employees, CJ got down on one knee, pulled out a ring and offered Chelsey the greatest commitment he could propose while Chelsey's father filmed the entire event.
"We laugh about it when we watch the film because there's this woman intently looking for a book right next to us," Chelsey (now Albertson) said. "She doesn't even realize what's happening."
As the two Sun Devils each enter the final year of their cross country careers in Tempe as team captains and the squad's only married couple, they offer a unique perspective and level of maturity to their teammates.
"I've had athletes in the past who got married and it was a distraction -- especially leading up to the marriage because they weren't focused on what we needed to get done, but there's a level of maturity with these two that actually makes it a benefit," Sun Devils coach Louie Quintana said. "Both of them are super dialed in and they are our two best runners. The men and women on our teams all go to them for guidance and they lead all of our practices. They're both such great kids and so committed that it has been a really positive influence on our team."
Both runners have high expectations as they enter the final season of their collegiate careers. In their first meet of the season -- the George Kyte Invitational -- this past weekend, CJ took the top spot in the men's field of 100 runners with Chelsey placing 2nd in the women's event. With familiar course and climate conditions as advantages, Quintana believes they can both finish in the top 10 at the Pac-12 Championships on Oct. 28 in Tucson (Chelsey was 28th last year; CJ was 35th). CJ has the added goal of earning All-America status (top 40) at the NCAA Championships.
"I want to jump up to that elite level," said CJ, who was a marquee recruit. "I've always felt I belonged in that elite group and I feel that I haven't performed up to it. I think the key will be staying consistent all season and staying physically, mentally and emotionally stable so I can race well."
While CJ has always had the mindset that he is and deserves to be the best, Quintana said achieving that attitude is a work in progress with Chelsey.
"The moment I started working with her, just by her biomechanics and the way she moved I was like 'wow!' You could see she was an elite, next-level athlete," Quintana said. "For her not to believe was kind of confounding to me so over the last 18 months we have tried to push the envelope in her training so that she's so supremely fit that she's breaking down some of these mental barriers she put up for herself."
Chelsey said marriage to CJ has been a major plus in that regard. Aside from being able to understand what is a shared experience and working through the entire regimen together from dawn to dusk, CJ's mindset has had an impact.
"He's very confident and wants to be the best so living with that attitude, it does rub off," she said. "I figure if he's going to be the best I want to be the best, too. If he's going to nationals I want to go, too."
Marital life hasn't altered their relationship much, but both know that when this season ends the changes will be more dramatic. CJ wants to coach at the college or community college level while Chelsey wants to go to nursing school. With no idea where they will be a year from now, both are trying to soak up the final year at ASU and all it has to offer.
It is, after all, the place where they met and the place where they enjoyed their first date.
"She ended up going clothing shopping with me because she joked I didn't have any good clothes," CJ said, laughing.
What was originally termed a clothes-shopping date morphed into three hours of talking at Barnes & Noble in Tempe Marketplace, however. That is why CJ chose the location of his marriage proposal. It had historical significance.
After a year of planning, the two were married in an outdoor ceremony in Camarillo, California, with 150 guests, including most of their teammates joining in the celebration.
"It was way more fun than I anticipated it to be," CJ said. "It was like your whole life being brought together in one moment -- everyone I'd ever been close to was there to see me marry the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I see why people in other cultures will have weeklong weddings now because once it ended I just wanted it to keep going."