Pleasant Hill sophomore Beck medals at state

Pleasant Hill sophomore Brooke Beck saved her best race of the season for last.

On Friday morning, Beck capped her season with a fifth-place finish at the Class 4 state meet in Columbia. She finished the 5-kilometer course in a personal-record time of 19 minutes and 17.1 seconds.

Beck, who finished fifth at the previous week’s district meet in Kearney, said she had no expectations going into state. She just wanted to enjoy the experience after placing 18th at state last year.

Well, she did more than that. Beck came through the first and second kilometers in 16th place. She fell two spots at the 3K mark, but closed the race well. 

Beck moved up three spots at the 4K mark, dropping her 1K split about 11 seconds. In the final stretch, she moved up 10 spots and dropped another 25 seconds from the previous split.

PHHS junior Ellie Beck finished 116th in the state race in a time of 22:25.2. She improved her finish by 38 seconds and 31 spots from last year’s state race.