In a large pack of runners you might miss Hendricken’s Greg Beaudette, who is only 5-foot-4 and weighs less than 90 pounds. But the Hawks’ distance runner proved that the size of the heart is what matters most when it comes to achieving any sort of success in track and cross country.
Beaudette earned all-state honors in cross country this past fall by finishing 16th overall at the championship meet where he was timed in 16 minutes, 38.61 seconds for the five-kilometer course at Ponaganset. That was just a few ticks from his personal best, set at the Class A Championship a week earlier. Beaudette ran his best of 9:06.6 for the 3,000 when he placed third at the Suburban Championship during the indoor season.
What would you consider the highlight of your high school career?
The highlight of my high school career was when I was finally able to fulfill my goal of achieving all-state in the cross country state meet. I had been to previous state meets before I was even in high school, and that was when I set a goal. During the awards ceremony when they called up the top 21 finishers, I told my dad, “I want to go up there one day.” Sure enough, my senior year, I finished sixth man on my team and had broken into the top 21 with a 16th place finish. However, what makes it special was, my personal place was just the icing on top of the fact that my team had just won the state championship. Just as my coaches have told me - “Run for the team, and the personal goals will come.”
What was your most memorable performance?
My most memorable performance was in indoor track in the 3,000-meter race. It was at the division meet, which was not that large. My PR was 9:17 from Yale, which is a very fast track, so my coaches wanted to try to get me under 9:15. After given our race plans, the four of us, (Tyler) Henseler, (Colin) Tierney, myself, and (Tom) Grizzetti, went to the starting line. Immediately, my legs felt great, and I decided to try to stick with Henseler and Tierney for a mile. We got to the mile in a record time for me, a whopping 4:51! Being right with two of our team’s top guys, my teammates were ecstatic and screaming. Knowing I was past half way, I decided to stick with them for as long as I could. With my coaches and mother yelling me splits, I trusted my training. I will never forget how right from the beginning, both Tierney and Henseler periodically would yell back to me to hang on to them, “We’ll pull you through it!” Amazingly, I went with them until about 1½ laps to go, and finished in a career best 9:06, 11-seconds faster than my time from the Yale Invitational. The ones that helped me the most were my teammates and coaches that day.
What was your most difficult obstacle to overcome?
In cross-country, my size certainly did not help me at the starts of large races. Being under 5-4 and less than 90 pounds for most of my high school career, I was easy to push around in the large packs. However, to a certain extent, I could hold my own and get through it. Even in track, I always saw room to pass someone on the inside, despite Coach Doyle screaming “OUTSIDE! Pass on the outside!” Knowing that when it came to a large race, such as in cross-country at New England’s and Regionals, I would probably get pushed to the last third of the race, I relied mostly on my second half of the race. As my coaches would always say, “the race will come back to you, just wait.”
What advice would you give to younger athletes?
Do not let anything get in the way of your goals. Simply listen to your coaches, and they will work to the best of their abilities to try and get you where they believe you can, and need, to be. When you get a race plan, do not second guess it; trust it. I remember at the awards ceremony after the cross-country state meet my senior year, Coach Doyle came up to me and said “You were easily one of the smallest guys in that entire race. It’s amazing how with hard work, Coach Brennan and I helped you to be the 16th best cross-country runner in the state.”
What will you miss most?
I will miss the great friends that I made on my team. I have great memories of funny, long runs and miserable runs in hail and cold rain. But some of the best memories I have are from when we all could come together and get past a hardship. We were not a perfect team; we had our faulty races. That’s where the greatness happened; we got lectured by Coach Doyle, learned from our mistakes, and never looked back. That is what I will miss most; how as one, we picked each other up and carried on to victory.
What are your future plans?
I will continue running at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. They have competitive Division II cross- country and track programs, and I hope to contribute to that team just as I have at Hendricken. I feel that I will fit in well there, and I will continue to dedicate hard work for my new team.
What influence has your coach (or coaches) had with respect to your performance and overall life goals?
My coaches ARE the reasons for my performance and goals. They helped me get to a level where I will be competitive in the college atmosphere. This is going to help me to pay for my college education while doing what I love with an athletic scholarship. Also, thanks to my great coaches, I now know that if I set my head towards a certain goal, I can achieve it.
Who would you like to say Thank You?
I would like to thank my family for supporting me with my running. My parents were the ones who bought all my trainers and spikes, paid for my team trips, and came to watch me run whenever they could. My entire family has been a great helping factor to me. I would also like to thank all of my teammates for always treating each other as a second family. When someone got hurt, we encouraged that person until they were back up to full strength. I always enjoyed being with them, and I hope we all stay friends throughout our lives. And finally, my coaches; they truly provided me with a strong foundation and always had my individual goals in mind. They were the ones that allowed for me to compete at the level that I did. They pushed me to finish workouts when I was either tired or battling spring allergies. Coach Doyle would put me in the top group knowing that when I fell behind, I would get less rest than the other guys by the time the next repeat came around. I want to thank them for all of the months of training, the endless-hill workouts, and sweltering/windy track workouts that eventually paid off in a single race, whether it was a 16-minute cross-country race, or a nine-minute 3,000.