In a class of her own

Woodstock’s Kayla Beattie sprints toward the finish of the 3,200 meters at this year’s Fox Valley Conference Meet, a race in which she shattered the previous record by 27 seconds. Beattie, the Northwest Herald Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year, finished first in the 3,200 and second in the 1,600 at the IHSA Class 2A state meet. (Lauren M. Anderson – landerson@nwherald.com)

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Kayla Beattie already had put together an impressive running résumé that included four state medals in cross country and track and field.

A trip to Boston for the Nike National Indoor Championships boosted the Woodstock junior’s confidence even more.

“I surprised myself,” said Beattie, who was eighth in her age group for the 3,200-meter run and 20th in the 1,600. “I ran great times, and after running those, I wanted to run those times every meet. I was more time-oriented than place-oriented this spring.”

Beattie could count on one hand how many times she lost races this spring. She dominated the area and almost won two Class 2A titles in the IHSA Girls State Track and Field Meet at Eastern Illinois University’s O’Brien Stadium.

Beattie nearly pulled off the distance triple crown, having won the Class 2A state cross country title and the 3,200 in track. Only an inspired effort by Mount Vernon’s Margo Richardson, who pulled off the distance triple a year earlier, kept
Beattie from taking the 1,600, as well.

Still, it was the first time an area girls runner won state cross country and a state distance race in the same school year, a feat that made Beattie the Northwest Herald Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year. She was the Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year in the fall.

“It was definitely a great year, starting with a solid summer of base mileage,” Beattie said. “During the year I kept improving. My drive to improve and the workouts my coaches gave me really helped in both seasons.

“My confidence was boosted with how well I was running, and my practices were going well.”

Beattie and her sister, who graduated this spring, Elise, led the way in most area distance races through the season. Kayla set McHenry County and Fox Valley Conference meet records in both the 3,200 and 1,600. Her record time in the FVC 3,200 was 10:35.06, 27 seconds faster than the old record.

“She has incredible drive and incredible trust in her coaches, and her coaches [Matt McCulley and Bill Macaulay] have done a great job,” Woodstock girls track coach Steve Erwin said. “Breaking both meet records in the county and conference meets, that’s pretty tough.”

What Beattie and Erwin were most proud of was her 3,200 time in the state meet, 10:30.62, which was 10 seconds faster than Chicago Whitney Young’s Lavinia Jurkiewicz, the Class 3A champion. Beattie wanted to have the fastest time, regardless of class.

With Kayla’s first- and second-place finishes, along with Elise’s pair of third-place finishes, Woodstock finished with 35 points and tied for fifth, its best team finish at state.

“The highest team finish had everything to do with three classes [and dropping to 2A],” Erwin said. “Kayla finishing first in the 3,200 [with the fastest time in the state] had nothing to do with three classes.”

Beattie took three weeks off after the season to rest and resumed running last weekend. She previously visited Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin and is on a trip to Purdue and other Midwest schools this week.

“In the big picture, the cross country season is long,” Beattie said. “I was hoping to run some national [track] races, it would have been nice to see that competition, but the cross country season is long. I took the time off, and now I’m training for cross country.”