Thursday, March 28, 2024

MSU Track's Morgan Beadlescomb begins final championship pursuit with a memorable Spartan Invite victory

April 4, 2022
<p>Senior Morgan Beadlescomb breaks down the highs and lows of the race after finishing first in the men&#x27;s 8K during the 2021 Spartan Invitational on Friday, Sept. 17, 2021. </p>

Senior Morgan Beadlescomb breaks down the highs and lows of the race after finishing first in the men's 8K during the 2021 Spartan Invitational on Friday, Sept. 17, 2021.

Photo by Chloe Trofatter | The State News

Senior day festivities normally celebrate an athlete’s career and give fans one last chance to see them compete at home. But in Morgan Beadlescomb’s case, it was his one and only chance to run in front of a home crowd.

The sixth-year senior has only raced two times in his career at the track at Ralph Young Field and never participated in the annual Spartan Invite prior to Saturday. Despite being one of the most storied runners in MSU track history, the COVID-19 pandemic whittled away Beadlescomb’s chances to compete in East Lansing.

The nine total All-American honors, the second-place finish in the men's mile at the NCAA indoor tournament and personal records across four events that Beadlescomb has accumulated over his career have all taken place in warmer parts of the country, which made Saturday’s final race in the near-freezing conditions at home all the more meaningful.

“I've never competed in the Spartan Invite before today,” Beadlescomb said. “So it's great waking up in my own bed, not having to drive that far. I get to do kind of my normal morning routine, it's more relaxed.”

Beadlescomb received a rousing standing ovation while being honored for senior day while his long list of accomplishments was announced. Opposing runners in the stands whispered about his national championship and his teammates yelled praise as Beadlescomb stood with a bouquet of flowers and his arms around his parents and Track and Field director Lisa Breznau taking photos, all while wearing a slight smile under his trademark mustache.

Fifteen minutes after the festivities ended, Beadlescomb took his position at the starting block for his only race of the day, the first heat of the men’s 1500m. It was his first race outdoors after resting during the team’s first meet in Raleigh last week. 

It was also his first race since finishing as a second-team All-American in the men’s 3000m and second place in the men’s mile at the NCAA indoor championship last month. Beadlescomb came just .05 seconds away from claiming an elusive NCAA championship after knocking at the doorstep repeatedly throughout his career. 

“Competing against people instead of against the clock is what I'm really focusing on right now,” Beadlescomb said. “I took an extra week, I didn't compete last week in North Carolina, just so we could get some more training in. And I really know what I needed coming off of that indoor season going from a mile to focusing on the 5K in outdoor.”

Since the indoor championships, Beadlescomb has been resting and preparing for the final run for gold in his long collegiate career. The first step in gearing up for competitive racing again was Saturday’s race and standing in the way was fellow distance runner and friend John Petruno.

Petruno, who set the program record for the men’s 1500m last week in Raleigh, ran with Beadlescomb in heat one. The two spend lots of time in practice competing against each other and believe that the friendly competition has helped bring the best out of both of them.

“I've been saying all week, I broke the school record last week,” Petruno said. “I've been joking all week. He's gonna take it from me this weekend. The weather didn't exactly let us do that today.”

On Saturday, Beadlescomb ended up on top of the friendly battle. After teammate Alex Penski served as a “rabbit” for the race and set a breakneck pace for the runners, Beadlescomb and Petruno broke away from the pack and stayed with each other stride for the first 1400 meters of the race. In the final stretch, Beadlescomb turned on the burners and pulled away to finish with a time of 3:42.81, while Petruno finished second with a time of 3:43.18 and his record still intact. 

“I think it's good that John has it,” Beadlescomb said. “Definitely earned it, definitely one of the faster guys in the nation right now, especially in the 1500. And having two guys that are competitive at a national level is more important than any single record. So being able to come out here and play a little bit of cat and mouse, chase each other back and forth was more fun than getting any school record.”

The competition between the two was the start of a strong day that saw MSU walk home with 11 event victories at their home invitational. Breznau is hoping that it is the start of another strong outdoor campaign to build on the Spartans’ strong finish last year and performance in the winter in the indoor circuit.

There is still a long way to go until the Spartans are back to “championship racing” as Breznau calls it, but with Beadlescomb leading the way with his eyes set on only one goal, it is hard not to be optimistic. 

“Morgan's approach to this outdoor season is to get back to training, get back to some fundamental work and just focus on being competitive,” Breznau said. “That'll sort of be the main focus until the conference meet. And from there, it's championship racing.”

“I think days like today really help,” Beadlescomb said.

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