CARNDUFF - Carnduff’s Carter Beck is well-known locally for his success in baseball.
The Grade 12 student at the Carnduff Education Complex was named the top player in the Saskatchewan Premier Baseball League’s AAA division last year, and has committed to play baseball for the University of Mary in North Dakota this coming fall.
And he was one of the top scorers in the Saskatchewan AA Hockey League’s U18 division this past season.
Now he has added to the list of accomplishments, as he won the gold medal in the tetrathlon at the Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association’s provincial track-and-field championship in Saskatoon on June 2 and 3.
This was his first provincial championship.
“It feels super cool that I get to bring home a provincial champion banner and have a banner on the wall that’s not going away soon. That’s one thing I wanted to have before I graduated,” said Beck.
The tetrathlon has four different components. Beck was first in the shot put with a toss of 13.56 metres, third in the 100-metre dash with a time of 12 seconds, fourth in the 800 metres at two minutes and 12.87 seconds, and eighth in the long jump with a distance of 5.8 metres.
“My favourite is shot put for sure, because I’m pretty good at it and it’s the easiest one,” said Beck. “It’s easier on your body, and the rest of them are hard. I find shot put’s just a little bit of technique and you throw it as hard as you can.”
He finished with a total of 2,587 points, 68 more than Oakland Flodell of Clavet.
Tigers track and field coach Jana McLaren noted that Beck set a provincial record in the tetrathlon’s shot put, eclipsing it by 52 centimetres, but she was impressed with his 800 metres, as he shaved nearly 10 seconds off of his personal best, and ran what she called “a flawless race”.
“Often times … it does come down to the last event, which I think is why they put the 800 metres there. It is, I would say it is the most physically taxing,” said McLaren.
The athletes in the tetrathlon complete the four events in half a day.
“They’re crunching a number of events in a short amount of time, and I think it speaks to their athleticism to be able to do that,” she said. “For a provincial champion in this event, you clearly are a well-rounded athlete to be able to compete and perform in all four events.”
Beck admitted he’s not sure why he was so strong in the 800 metres, as he passed several runners in the second half of the race.
McLaren marvelled at Beck’s work ethic to be able to balance academics with track and field, along with baseball with the Southeast U18 AAA Twins.
“I know how bad Carter wanted this, and so I just really wanted it for him. To say I was excited would be a massive understatement,” said McLaren.
After he finished fifth last year at provincials in his first attempt at the tetrathlon, he told her he was bringing home a banner and worked hard to make it happen.
Track and field has helped with Beck’s athletic success. He recalled that when he first started in Grade 7, he couldn’t run. He learned how to run and kept working at it.
“It’s helped immensely in baseball with running. One thing that helps me in baseball is I’m really fast, and all my speed came from track. It also helps in hockey, too. Hockey helps keep me in shape for track, and track helps keep me in shape for hockey.”
McLaren joked that Beck was her assistant coach because he helped young students so much, and she stressed the school and community are proud of him.
