When they're young, babies are taught to crawl before they walk and walk before they run. Annie Beecham probably didn't take too long to get to the second step.
Although she began running track in junior high school, Ohio's redshirt senior cross-country runner said it was meant to be long before then.
I can remember my mom telling me at a very young age that I was going to be a runner
Beecham said. So I just always think I believed that even in elementary school.
I guess it was a self-fulfilling prophecy that I was going to be a runner someday.
But it wasn't until her sophomore year of high school that she started cross-country.
Running consumes Beecham to the point that whenever she goes on what is supposed to be a carefree vacation she must always get that run in, she said.
Running is something you can do anywhere, anytime, Beecham said. ... It's pretty much completely individual as far as controlling how much you want to do.
Either you can put the miles in or not. It's not something you need to practice; you just have to go out and run.
Most of Ohio's athletes participate in one sport, but Beecham performs in three: cross-country in the fall, indoor track in the winter and outdoor track in the spring.
Beecham won both of the races she's run so far this cross-country season: the Virginia Tech Alumni Invitational and the Ohio Invitational.
But her success this year is neither new nor unexpected.
In 2008, she won the Mid-American Conference Championship, and that victory catapulted her toward qualifying for the NCAA National Championship.
It was just so cool to compete at that level of competition
Beecham said. Coming from OU
we're usually the underdogs. But we qualified.
Kari Summers, a fellow redshirt senior, is the other half of the package to which Beecham referred. The two have lived together for three years, and their friendship has grown stronger during that time.
She's a great friend. She's always there. She's very reliable
Summers said. She's very supportive
whether I win or she wins or whoever wins. We're rivals
I guess
but it's never bad or anything like that.
In continuing her praise for Beecham, Summers talked about her maturity and how it has led to a nickname.
We call her 'Mama B' because she always watches over everyone
Summers said. She's real logical most of the time.
Cross-country and track coach Clay Calkins said he's seen the progression in Beecham during the past five years.
Her self-motivation has driven her to be a great athlete and a great competitor, Calkins said. I'd take a whole team of those type athletes.
After three meets this year
Calkins' athletes - both the men and the women - are undefeated. It's a start that reminded Beecham of her freshman and sophomore years
