Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 28, 1994 TAG: 9404280182
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Another time, he ran as hard as he could toward the finish line, legs pumping like pistons, while a competitor jogged leisurely beside him, as if taking a Sunday afternoon stroll, distributing ample portions of trash-talk along the way. The fellow eventually turned on the jets and left Beasley wheezing in the vapor trail.
These scenes take on a surreal quality for those who have seen Beasley in action in recent days, such as last Saturday when he captured four first-place finishes at the All-American Relays in Radford. Certainly, these events could not have transpired, could they?
Are these merely Beasley's worst fears? Nightmares, perhaps, the kind that wake a guy in the night and leave him swimming in pools of cold sweat?
Nope. They really happened.
Of course, Beasley was 14 years old at the time and he was running against two of the fastest runners ever to don a Christiansburg leotard - Demond Wesley and Tyrone Johnson, who were four and five years older than Beasley. Those two guys thought it would be a good idea to give their young protege a glimpse of how fast he could become.
Beasley was hotshot on the eighth-grade track team when Wesley, then a senior star for the Blue Demons, invited him to a challenge race. Wesley barely broke a jog while dispensing verbiage on his young friend. Johnson even tried to take it easier on young Beasley by giving him the head start. He smoked him by about 10 yards anyway.
It was sort of a track and field rite of passage. Using the sport's terminology, the baton was being passed.
"Maybe one day I can be that fast," Beasley thought.
He's almost there.
Just a junior, Andra (pronounced like "Andre") Beasley is clearly the best track athlete in the New River District, probably the best in Region IV. As he demonstrated at the All-American Relays, there's not much he can't do on the track or in the field.
He easily won the long jump, triple jump and the 100-meter dash on Saturday and he ran a leg on the Blue Demons' 4x100 relay team that singed everyone in sight. He even placed third in the shot put, an event he hardly ever practices. He seemingly can do it all.
"He's the Jesse Owens and the Jim Thorpe of this team," said Christiansburg coach Randy Bailey. "We call him Jesse Thorpe."
Beasley has made Bailey's job easy ("I just try to stay out of his way," the coach said). In fact, Bailey's toughest task this season has been finding events in which Beasley doesn't excell.
"He looked bad in the discus," Bailey said, almost gleefully. "Finally, something he's not great at naturally."
Beasley didn't even have his best day at the All-American Relays. His winning time of 11.1 seconds in the 100 was modest for him (Christiansburg coaches dispute this time; they say they clocked him at 10.8, which would have been a personal best) and he opted not to compete in the 200, one of his best events. Beasley could probably place among the top six in as many as eight events, but he has to limit himself to about five events per meet. Most days, it's tough to decide in which events to compete.
On Saturday, he even skipped his final two tries in the long jump after clearing 21 feet earlier. It was obvious no one would touch that mark, so he didn't extend himself. Of course, on a day when many teams had trouble getting to Radford because of the repair work on Memorial Bridge, Beasley probably could have cleared the New River in a single bound had he wanted.
"Jumping is what I like to do," he said. "It just feels better to be out there by yourself. It's like an art when you do it right."
His best jump came in the AAU Nationals last year in Knoxville when he leaped 22-6, good enough for second place. He was third in the high jump at nationals at 43-9, which was well short of the 45-1 he spanned at last year's Group AA state meet.
Even though he has competed in track since he was 12 years old - when he once jumped 8-1 from a standing position - he didn't get off on the right foot until the eighth grade. That's when a coach noticed that Beasley should be jumping off his left foot instead of his right, a switch that immediately increased Beasley's leaps by three feet.
These days, Beasley has his sights on breaking Wesley's records in the 100 (10.8) and in the long jump (22-9). He has a shot.
He also has a chance to be a Division I football prospect next year as a tailback. He has played some linebacker, and probably has the speed to play in the secondary at the college level.
"It used to be my dream to be a football player," he said. "Since being introduced to track, I don't know what I want to do."
Until he decides, he'll have to satisfy himself knowing that he can do just about anything. Maybe even throw a discus.
by CNB