Junior Beach brings calm focus to track team

Junior Katherine Beach is only in her first season at A&M-Commerce, but the New Mexico State transfer is already getting accustomed to the university and her track and field teammates.

"The team is developing right now and we're growing," Beach said. "Seeing as how I'm a transfer student and it's my first year here, I'm getting used to the team, getting to know them, so it's kind of like a developing season. This season has a lot of promise with a lot of really good spirits and we have a really strong men and women's team. My goal this year is to be able to run at Nationals."

Senior Kate Donovan said the team has already embraced Beach as a fellow teammate.

"She is an amazing individual," Donovan said. "She is always there for everyone and brings a smile with her everywhere. Katherine is very supportive and leads by example as well. Everybody who meets her falls in love."

Donovan said the team, along with Beach, is very focused on the season.

"She is a very committed athlete," Donovan said. "She always gets the job done. Unfortunately I've really only had one chance to be at a meet with my team. The whole team before and during a meet is very excited and pumped about the event. Once they get there, they are all focused and determined to achieve the goals they set for themselves."

Beach said that she has had a passion for running ever since she was a young child.

"I've been running since I was a little kid playing soccer," she said. "I was always really fast. I've been a soccer player my entire life, but track was something I was naturally good at. Soccer is something I enjoy still, but I guess racing against boys and always beating them became a competitive thing for me. In middle school, I could actually run for the school, so I've been doing it ever since I was in sixth grade. My mom wanted me to stick with running through high school and college and I've been running for about 11 years now."

In her first year running at A&M-Commerce, she is competing in several different track and field events.

"I run the women's 200-meter dash, the 400, relay events, and sometimes even the 800," she said. "If coach tells you to do it, then you've got to do it."

Beach said she enjoys the coaching at A&M-Commerce and still takes advice from her former high school coach.

"I love Coach Davis, she is the women's track coach and I love her to death," she said. "I still talk to my high school track coach almost daily and he's always done a couple workouts with me and he has always been there. He's a really good athlete."

Beach said while attending high school, she got to compete in her favorite meet so far.

"My most memorable race would be in 2007 at the state track meet," she said. "We ran in Austin when I was attending Irving High School in which I tied for fourth place. Since it was the state track meet, the best in the state of Texas must qualify for the race and it was for a 5A school which was really, really big. We were so close to getting that medal, but it was a great memory."

This season, Beach is looking forward to the team's meet in Austin next month.

"I'm really looking forward to Texas Relays," she said. "That one is a really big meet that will take place in Austin at the University of Texas on April 6. It's a huge track meet and is actually the biggest in the state where high school, college, and professional athletes go and compete so it's a fun thing to see everyone else and be a part of."

Before competing in a meet, Beach said she likes to meditate to try and relax.

"The night before a race, I go through YouTube and try and find all these inspirational quotes and locker room talks," she said. "Then I will meditate and tell myself that I've been doing this in practice all week, it's just fun ways to calm your nerves."

Like most students on campus, Beach has to manage her time wisely, but she is balancing both school and sports.

"The cool thing that I do that most people don't do is the communication graphics program that I'm involved in is in downtown Dallas, so I have to commute from there twice a week," Beach said. "I'm a communication graphics major and want to become a web designer. To balance all of this, you have to put your heart in to what you're doing, so you can balance being a student athlete with a lot of time management. There is no free time for me except maybe on some weekends, but with the season starting, I'm having a lot of fun. We won't have any team practices throughout spring break, but we'll all practice on our own time during the week."