Jessica Beard keys A&M's NCAA track championship
Jessica Beard, who was a four-time state 400-meter champion while competing for the Euclid Panther track team from 2004 to 2007, continues to wow track audiences while running for Texas A&M.
Last month, at the NCAA national championship meet in Des Moines, Iowa, she ran a blistering anchor leg in the 4x400 relay to win the meet-ending event and give the Aggies a come-from-behind victory in the team title chase. Earlier in the meet, she won gold in the individual 400 meter race.
“She helped Texas A&M win its third consecutive NCAA title,” notes Ted Theodore, a former Euclid High coach and still-active track official who has followed Beard’s career closely.
“Jessica is just a Euclid treasure,” says Theodore, who still officiates at many Panther track meets. “She has fulfilled all of our dreams for her—and then some. And she’s done it all with class.”
The split time that Beard posted in the recent NCAA relay event would have won a gold medal in the individual 400 meters at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Theodore points out. And, last year, she did win a gold medal in the 4x400 relay at the World Championships in Europe.
“I think Jessica will qualify for the 2012 Olympics in London next year,” Theodore says. “I believe that she is now about the third or fourth-fastest 400-meter runner in the world.”
John Sheridan
Retired journalist. From 1963 to 1972, wrote for and edited the Euclid News-Journal, predecessor to the Sun-Journal. From 1972 to 2000, I was a writer and editor for Industry Week magazine. Also have worked for the Plain Dealer as a part-time sportswriter, covering high school sports. And I was a contributor to the previous Euclid Observer. I have lived in Euclid for almost my entire life. I am a graduate of St. Joseph High School and John Carroll University.