LIVE OAK — Before he could race down the track and leap over the bars in front of him, there was a different hurdle for Garrison Beach to clear this spring.
In addition to trying to repeat as a three-time state medalist in track and field, Beach joined the Suwannee weightlifting team and would be a multi-sport athlete within the same season.
While navigating two overlapping sport schedules, Beach was still back in familiar territory in May at the FHSAA Class 2A state meet: three times climbing up the medal stand.
Beach now has another honor to add to his collection: Lake City Reporter’s Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year.
How did he get there while trying to juggle school and a pair of sports? Focus and time management.
“Just managing it all, it was pretty hard,” said Beach, who also won a pair of individual state medals in weightlifting, winning the snatch at 183 pounds and placing fifth in the traditional. “But I just had to take it easy on one or the other.”
SHS track coach Mark Beach, Garrison’s father, added: “It’s just his ability to focus through it all and just navigate the emotional ups and downs of two simultaneous seasons. I don’t know if he juggled it but it was a team effort and he got to the spots he needed to get to when he needed to get there. And he worked as hard as he could at the current moment and he didn’t get too high or too low.”
And once weightlifting season ended, Beach turned that focus solely to track and the 110m and 300m hurdles and the javelin, to try to get back to state in all three and set a few personal records on the way.
After all, there wasn’t any time to waste.
“I was full on track (at that point), trying to make up for lost time,” he added.
But even with his focus fully on track in late April, the Beaches concentrated on different areas.
Mark Beach said Garrison never did run an entire 300 hurdle race during practice the entire year. If he ran the entire race, it was strictly in meets.
The limited time they had in practice — when they practiced as during the bulk of the season, his training consisted of conditioning runs at night on dirt roads near their house following weightlifting practice — was instead aimed at the start of the race. The first hurdle and then the first four hurdles in the 300.
The objective was clearing the first hurdle in less than six seconds. At regionals and state, Garrison Beach hit 5.8.
For the first half of the race or those four hurdles, Mark Beach said statistics show the key is getting through there in around 18.6 or 18.7. So that is where they would put their effort.
“There’s numbers that just don’t lie, so that’s what we focused on,” Mark Beach said.
The focus paid off.
At the district meet, he won the 300 hurdles in 40.62, while placing second in the 110m hurdles and third in the javelin. He followed that up with new PRs in the 110 and the javelin at the regional meet and then set new personal bests in both hurdle races at the state meet as well, finishing fourth in the 110 and fifth in the 300, a race he led most of the way before clipping the eighth hurdle.
Still, Beach said he tries not to think ‘what if’ when it comes to that race.
“I went into it to just go all-out, full-speed, make or break and try to hit a new PR,” he said. “I’m happy how I did. I did hit a new PR, so I can’t complain.”
Still, setting a new PR in the javelin is something like nothing else, Beach said.
It’s a sport that was just introduced last year in the state. Kyler Hall, one of the SHS assistant track coaches, selected a few team members that he thought could do well at the sport and showed them the basics.
Beach said it came “pretty naturally.”
Within a couple practices he felt he had it down. Within a couple meets, the PRs were coming in leaps and bounds.
Still, this year with the addition of weightlifting, there wasn’t much throwing going on. Instead of throwing in practice, there were exercises geared toward the event.
And then came the regional meet where he unleashed a throw of 52.93m, besting his old best by more than 5.5m. He followed it up with a throw of 51.92m at state to finish runner-up.
“So seeing where I was after not throwing it and to set a PR after not throwing for awhile was really cool,” he said. “It’s a good feeling.
“It’s awesome to set a PR in the javelin especially if it’s a big one like at the regional meet.”
So what helped Beach continue to perform at a high level even with less practice than in years past?
For starters, he said his foundation started off higher based on his past experiences. The three medals last year and the confidence they brought helped too.
“His confidence carried him through and just his experience,” Mark Beach said. “I think as athletes mature and gain that confidence, I think in the back of his mind he was relying on that and knowing that he belonged.”
Beach added: “I knew I was working hard. I did what I needed to do. I had been there in that position before. I was comfortable being at state, in those environments. I figured I would perform well.”
Now Beach will see how he can perform in a new environment: college. He will take all those experiences in the various events and see how they translate to the decathlon at Embry-Riddle University.
Mark Beach said the big javelin throw at the regionals kind of sealed the deal on the collegiate opportunities. With the background in the hurdles, the ability to show that throw attracted recruiters’ attention.
It helps too that Beach has also competed in the high jump and long jump, two more of the events featured in the decathlon.
“It’s awesome,” he said of the opportunity to continue competing. “I’m excited to see what I can do the next four years.”
ALL-AREA TEAM
Garrison Beach
Suwannee, senior
The LCR’s Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year brought home three medals at the Class 2A state meet, placing second in the javelin (51.92m), fourth in the 110m hurdles (15.01), and fifth in the 300m hurdles (39.48). He set new personal records in the 100 hurdles and 300 hurdles at state and also set the new school record in the javelin (52.93m) at regionals, an impressive finish to the season that included a District 3-2A title in the 300 hurdles.
TJ Derico
Suwannee, junior
Placed fourth in the long jump at the Class 2A state meet, setting a new personal record with a leap of 6.86m after winning the District 3-2A title. Derico also placed 14th in the triple jump at state with a leap of 12.64m after placing second at regionals (personal-best 13.14m).
Justin Hernandez
Branford, senior
Placed sixth in the 800m and sixth in the 1600m at the Class 1A state meet, setting personal-bests in both events with a new school record in the 1600. Hernandez was a regional qualifier in the 3200m as well and also ran with the 4x800 relay team that placed seventh in Class 1A.
Seth Humphries
Branford, senior
Qualified for state in the 400m, placing 15th in Class 1A with a time of 51.18 seconds to tie his own school record he set at regionals. Humphries also ran on the 4x400 and 4x800 relay teams that made it to state, which finished ninth (3:30.11) and seventh (8:17.01), respectively.
Kyson Johnson
Branford, senior
Placed fourth in the javelin at the Class 1A state meet with a throw of 47.92m after finishing runner-up at the Region 2-1A meet where he set a new school record with a throw of 50.38m to follow up a District 5-1A title in the event. He was also a regional qualifier in the discus.
Adrik Miller
Branford, senior
Was part of two relay teams that qualified for state, placing ninth in the 4x400 and seventh in the 4x800. He was also a regional qualifier in the pole vault.
Devin Mosley
Branford, senior
Placed seventh in the shot put at the Class 1A state meet, setting a new school record with a toss of 14.39m. He won the District 5-1A title and was runner-up in Region 2-1A in the event while also qualifying for regionals in the discus and javelin.
Josue Sierra Berrios
Branford, senior
Was part of two relay teams that qualified for state, placing ninth in the 4x400 and seventh in the 4x800.
Seth Stockton
Columbia, junior
Placed second in the triple jump at the Class 3A state meet, tying his school record leap of 14.50m. He set the record when he won the Region 1-3A title after winning the District 3-3A title with a jump of 14.35m.
Will Wainwright
Suwannee, sophomore
Finished 13th in the javelin (personal-best 46.21m) and 15th in the discus (39.84m) at the Class 2A state meet. He also set the new personal record in the discus when he placed third at regionals (42.18m).
COACH OF THE YEAR
Tim Clark, Branford
Clark’s Buccaneers repeated as district champions, which included two individual titles in 5-1A. Ten individuals qualified for regionals in 12 events as did three relay teams, with four individuals qualifying for state in five events in addition to two relays teams. Branford reached the medal stand in five events at state.