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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss Teammates Become Family, Literally
5/26/2011 | Track and Field
May 26, 2011
By Joey Jones
Ole Miss Athletics Media and Public Relations
Christopher Bush rounds the corner and speeds toward teammate Lee Ellis Moore. Practicing the same way he has hundreds of times before, he readies the lightweight red baton in his right hand for the exchange into Moore's left.
On the other side of the track, LaJada Baldwin stretches her quads and bends down to set her spikes in the starting blocks. She bursts out of the blocks like a 5-foot-2 bolt of lightning.
It looks like any other team workout at the Ole Miss Track and Field Complex.
But two of the runners are not your typical college student-athletes.
As the Rebels prepare for the upcoming East preliminary round of the NCAA Championships, Bush and Baldwin are also settling into their new roles as husband and wife.
On May 21, 2011 - seven days after Chris graduated from Ole Miss, six days after they returned from the SEC Championships and three days before they would leave Oxford again for one of their final college track meets in Bloomington, Ind. - Chris and Jada were married. The ceremony at Burns United Methodist Church in Chris' hometown of Oxford featured several teammates in the wedding party, while much of the crowd was made up of the Ole Miss track and field family.
"It's been a whirlwind," said Chris, who graduated with honors as a social studies education major. "It felt like getting to this point in the year took forever. We spent all year planning for the wedding, and then Saturday hit and it was over like that. Graduation went fast. Now we have NCAAs at the end of the season. We've trained so hard and put in a lot of work for just a moment in time."
If it's been a whirlwind, then these two possess remarkable strength to withstand the chaos and excel at their many pursuits.
In the classroom, both have been members of the Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll. Chris boasts a 3.83 GPA, while LaJada is set to graduate with an exercise science degree in December.
On the track, both are integral members of the Rebel squad. Chris has helped the men's team to a No. 18 national ranking and runs the third leg on the 4x400 meter relay squad that ranks seventh in the region. LaJada is a three-time All-American and former SEC champion who will compete in the 200 meters and anchor the women's 4x100 meter relay team at the NCAA East Preliminary.
Safe to say, if the two have any children, those kids will be hard to keep up with.
But back to the present. While LaJada paid a great amount of attention to her studies and elite-level competition on the track, she has also been a bride-in-waiting ever since Chris proposed on one knee in the parking lot of Tupelo's Mall at Barnes Crossing about a year ago.
If anyone has ever been a bride or known one, then you know it's no small task to prepare for a wedding.
"It was tough," said LaJada, who had been "officially" dating Chris since the SEC Championships during their freshman year. "There are so many details that go into planning a wedding, but I had a lot of help. The Johnson Commons Ballroom (on the Ole Miss campus) took care of the whole reception for me. I just had to bring some of the decorations. It's been all about time management. I had to take a lot of breaks from wedding planning with school, finals, graduation and track."
In fact, the couple even had to move the wedding date back a week because of their busy schedule. It was originally set for the week of graduation since all of their families would already be in town, but their commitments to the track team and their studies prevented that desired date.
Nonetheless, the wedding went off without a hitch, and now they're back to business as usual.
Well, sort of.
"We still have to act like athletes," said LaJada, who has legally changed her last name to Bush. "It was hard at first, but it's getting easier. When we go home, we act like we're husband and wife, but when we get to track practice, he's 'Bush' and I'm back to 'Baldwin.'
With just three days between their wedding and departure for Bloomington, the couple hasn't had a chance to venture off to a remote locale by themselves yet. They may have to wait a couple of weeks, because if one or both of them finishes in the top 12 of their event in Bloomington, they will be heading to the NCAA Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, a week later.
Something says that will be just fine with these newlyweds.
"We'll probably go on a honeymoon after the season is over," LaJada said, "but I have no idea where."
Between these two exceptionally smart and talented individuals, they'll come up with a good plan.
