From soccer player to track star, Beckwith leads IU to NCAAs

From the beginning of her college career, senior Molly Beckwith was making headlines.

“Pair of Mollys break IU’s 3-game scoring drought as team earns 1st win of season,” a Sept. 5, 2005, Indiana Daily Student headline read.

Today, Beckwith’s accomplishments are still in the news, but for different reasons.

Despite beginning as a forward for IU women’s soccer, Beckwith has become one of the most successful walk-on athletes in IU track-and-field history during the past three years. In fact, the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association named her the Great Lakes Track Athlete of the Year on Tuesday.
Beckwith said her parents have always encouraged her to compete in sports.

She played on the Thomas Worthington High School soccer team for four years and ran track her freshman and senior years. As a sprinter, Beckwith set school records in both the 200-meter and 400-meter races and was named to the all-state team her freshman year. But in high school, Beckwith viewed track as a secondary sport to soccer.

“I had pre-race nerves before every race in high school. I was throwing up before every single race,” Beckwith said. “That’s the main reason I didn’t like track freshman year, so sophomore year I decided to play soccer. I also ran a little senior year just to stay in shape for soccer.”

In her senior year of high school, Beckwith accepted a soccer scholarship from IU and played in 17 of the Hoosiers’ 19 games during her freshman year. Throughout that season, she recorded two goals and two assists, including the game-winning goal in a match against Iowa.

Switching cleats

Following a promising freshman season, the remainder of Beckwith’s eligibility seemed to be with soccer. But her body would force her to do otherwise.

Pain in Beckwith’s left knee forced her to undergo patella surgery, her fourth surgery in four years — two were surgeries on both of her ACLs.

The work done on her legs would make Beckwith quit soccer forever. Her body would no longer allow her to make crisp cuts on the soccer field without risking permanent damage.

But the life-long athlete wouldn’t allow herself to stay on the sidelines.  

Beckwith continued competing, but this time as a walk-on with freshman eligibility on the IU track-and-field team. The non-contact sport was a perfect fit, because her long-term health and welfare was the top priority.

The transition would not be easy.

Graduate student Wendi Robinson has been on the IU track team since Beckwith walked on. She recalled Beckwith first came to practice in her soccer shorts and struggled to keep pace with the other runners.

Despite facing the adversity of being one of the most inexperienced members of the team, Beckwith was determined to reach her full potential.

“Physically there’s a different kind of fitness for soccer, and I needed a completely different kind of body to be successful at track and field,” Beckwith said. “That part of the transition was the hardest part. But in terms of being competitive and having that drive, it was pretty much the same.”

And Beckwith’s inner drive has been a consistent factor in her transformation from walk-on to record holder.

“You could see it when she first got here,” Robinson said. “The mentality of ‘I’m going to line up, I’m going to put it all on the line, and you’re going to have to run really fast if you want to beat me.’ She’s just one of those people who comes out here and works hard every day, and that dedication shows in her improvement.”

IU coach Ron Helmer took control of the IU track-and-field program in 2007, Beckwith’s second year with the team. He said that he relished the opportunity to coach Beckwith when he saw her limitless potential.

“When I inherited this group and I started to work with her, I saw that she enjoyed being challenged,” Helmer said. “It was a really cool opportunity for me, because she was a blank slate. She had no idea of what she was able to do and didn’t put limitations on what she could do. As with all great athletes, she wasn’t going to be satisfied until she accomplished what she set out to do and figure out what she needed to improve upon.”

Hitting her stride

Her improvement was evident last year.   

During what she considers her breakout performance, Beckwith ran the 800-meter indoor race faster than any other track athlete in IU school history. Her time of 2:06.67 not only broke the school record but qualified her for the NCAA Championships. She would improve this mark the next season to 2:05.55, which still stands as a school record.

Beckwith’s performance in the 800 would snowball into a season that included three medals at the Big Ten Indoor Championships and a school-record time of 1:27.96 in the 600-meter.

This season, Beckwith is showing no signs of slowing down.

At the Big Ten Indoor Championships, Beckwith recorded a time of 1:27.22 in the 600-meter, a new Big Ten record and the second-fastest time ever by an American runner. She also broke her own school record in the 800-meter race again, with a time of 2:04.50. Her leadership in the women’s distance medley relay team has helped it become the fastest women’s DMR team in IU history en route to qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Championships.

“The fact that she is only three years into high-level track and field and that has resulted in some of these performances tells us three things,” Helmer said. “She’s very talented, she loves what she is doing and she has responded to our approach. I don’t know how good she can be. But I know she’s not done growing yet, and she can get a lot better.”

Beckwith said she wants to go to physical therapy school and get her doctorate. In the next two years, though, she wants to keep training for the 2012 Olympic trials.

For now, she enters the NCAA Championships an IU record holder, Big Ten record holder, first team All-Big Ten selection, academic All-Big Ten, and Track Athlete of the Year — not bad for the former soccer player.

“I never thought I could get this far,” she said. “But I’m a very determined person, I’m driven to succeed in everything I do, and I think I get that from my parents. Because of my injuries, I take nothing for granted. I’ve sat out for so long in sports and watched other people succeed, while I sit on the bench waiting to play. If you don’t run the fastest you can run you’re wasting time, that’s how I look at track now.”