Confident, daring and family-oriented.
That is how sophomore runner Jah’mere Beasley describes himself in three words.
Beasley had to be daring in order to get where he is today. He never saw himself running track in college, but he took a leap of faith and turned it into something special.
“I only ran track for about two or three years and then gave it up for a while,” Beasley said. “In my mind I thought I was going to go to college to be a football player… I reached out to Francis Terry, and then [Head Coach Dustin Dimit] reached out to me, which got the wheels in motion.”
The rest, as they say, is history.
Beasley has had a superb start to his collegiate career. In his first indoor track season, he earned All-American honors as a member of the 4×400 meter relay, was a national qualifier for that same relay, and earned U.S. Track and Field Cross Country Coaches Association All-Atlantic Region in the 60 meter dash. He was also named the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) G. Larry James Most Outstanding Athlete, NJAC All-Conference first team in the 200 meters and the 4×400 meter relay and was named NJAC Rookie of the Week three times.
All of that for a guy who didn’t even think of running track in college.
Track has been more than a sport to him. Beasley pointed out how it has taught him some important life lessons during his journey here.
“One thing it’s taught me is how to be patient,” Beasley said. “Another thing it has taught me is hard work… You can’t just be an in season athlete… you gotta have that want and that will to get better. ‘One percent better each day’ that’s a motto I’ll always live by.’”
Beasley, who had a successful high school career, touched on how he sees the awards and honors from his past and how he tried to better himself instead of becoming complacent.
“I was just more focused on keeping my head down and seeing my personal records knock down and trying to get faster each week,” Beasley said. “One year I might win All-Conference so next year let’s go get All-South Jersey, and then next try to get All-New Jersey or win individual state championships, it just propels you to want to get better each week.”
Beasley expressed his gratitude for the current team he is on now,and recognized what makes them so special to be around.
“In my opinion it’s because we’re so close knit,” Beasley said. “We’re like a close family and I know a lot of people and teams might preach that but we really have something special with our team, coaches and athletes. We do so much off the track together and then people that graduate come back and visit us and come to the meets and visit us on campus sometimes… so the family environment is really big for us and I feel like it puts us in a spot where we can compete and we feel comfortable competing with each other everyday.”
Beasley looks to continue his success, while looking ahead toward the end of the indoor seasons and what he expects for the outdoor season.
“For indoor, I want to get on the podium for the 200 meters,” Beasley said. “For outdoor I really want to see my times drop in my events and run the open 400 to become more versatile… I know for the 200 I share the school record with Ali Ejaz so my main goal this year is to get the record to myself and get under 21 [seconds] and see where I can get to at the end of the season.”
Beasley and the Profs will run again this Friday and Saturday at the All-Atlantic Region Track and Field Conference Championships held at Nazareth College in Rochester, NY.
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