Nine years ago, a New Mexico native elementary school runner laced up a pair of Nike training shoes for his first cross country race in 3^rd grade.  Throughout middle school, Coach Jim Ciccarello challenged the curly-brown-haired distance specialist to compete in every event from 100m to 3,000m.  And by 8^th grade, Curtis Beach had found the decathlon.

It was a dream come true for the Albuquerque Academy phenom to get the National High School Record in the decathlon, since he had planned to do so back when he was a freshman.  A master at wearing many hats, Beach not only ran, threw, and jumped to his 7909 lifetime best at the 2009 Arcadia Invitational, but also won gold at this year’s USATF Junior National Championship and the Pan-American Junior Championships.  And, his 5 individual gold medals at the New Mexico 4A State Championships helped Academy reclaim 1^st place team honors. 

“This was by far the best season I ever had,” Beach said.  “I ended on a win and accomplished nearly everything I wanted to as a senior.”  It sure was difficult to not hear about the 6’0” senior and his yellow “New Mexico” jersey.  His performances throughout the season in each event of the decathlon were so competitive alone that it was almost unfathomable to combine them together for a single high school athlete.  It was typical for Beach to run just below 4:10 for the 1500m, crushing his already distant competition by at least 20 seconds.

But regardless or whether this season truly was “perfect” for Beach, his life of multi-event madness has only begun.  “There is a whole new level I can get to in the decathlon and it should be pretty exciting to see how high I could score after improving in all of my events.”

As Beach prepares to enter his first semester at Duke University this fall, the 2009 Gatorade National Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year has already turned his focus towards the 2012 Olympic Games in London.  Under the Blue Devils’ Assistant Coach Shawn Wilbourn, Beach is confident that he will find the coaching for “long-term success” in Durham, and furthermore “not just success at the collegiate level.”

Sure, the recent ESPY visitor has set the bar high (literally and figuratively) as a college freshman – a hopeful All-American finish at next spring’s NCAA National Championship – but this accolade among many is just one more stepping stone toward his lifetime plan.  “It will be really neat to move up the ranks in the ACC and at the national level, but the ultimate goal: be the best I can be at 26 or 27 years old.  I want to have a very successful post-collegiate career and hit plenty of great marks along the way.”

Curtis Beach doesn’t picture himself leaving the headlines any time soon.  Not only does he aspire to reach the top ranks in track & field in general down the road, but also he hopes to raise the prestige of the decathlon itself.  “I want to be an icon for the sport.  People picture ‘Michael Jordan’ for basketball, ‘Tiger Woods’ for golf, or ‘Lance Armstrong’ for cycling.  I want to be a role model like them as people mention track & field.”