Woodmore’s Beam takes two NBC top athlete awards

Woodmore senior Ava Beam pulled double duty during the Northern Buckeye Conference awards ceremony, earning the league’s Athlete of the Meet Award and Athlete of the Year Award.

It is the result of years of hard work running every day.

“Her work ethic is incredible,” Woodmore track coach Jim McMahon said. “She shows up every day at practice and she gives everything she has in the workouts, the practice plan, the attention to detail — she is one of those athletes who shows up ready to work and as a coach, you love that. 

“It sets a good example for the other athletes on the team, and the distance group, they feed off her. She sets the standard, which is awesome,” McMahon continued.

As a team, the Wildcats finished as NBC runner-up, scoring 123½ points to finish behind Eastwood (183). Beam, who will run cross country and track next year at NCAA Division II University of Findlay, won three events at the league meet.

Beam won the 1600-meter run in 5:23.66 and Woodmore freshman Emma Hammer (5:42.66) finished second.

In the 3200, Beam won by nearly a minute, crossing the finish line in 12:05.6, just over five seconds behind the league record (12:00.36) set by Elmwood’s Makayla Mohre in 2015. 

Beam was joined by sophomores Olivia Vogelpohl and freshmen Caydie Buchanan and Emma Hammer on the 4x800 relay team that won in a league record time of 9:50.47, breaking a 9:58.51 mark set by an Otsego team in 2014. 

Eastwood senior Jamie Lahey, sophomore Talia Baum and freshmen Avery Bowman and Amelia Ward crossed the line in second at 9:57.4, which would have also been a record.

“My team actually PR’d (personal record) by about 12 seconds, and Eastwood’s team really pushed us,” Beam said.

In the 800, Beam finished third in a tight race with Vogelpohl, who was the champion in 2:26, and Ward, who finished second in 2:27.23. Beam followed in 2:29.39.

“It was definitely a tough one in the 800,” Beam said. “I think I was really fatigued, and that was the first time I ran in the heat so that was really challenging to run all four events in the heat.”

Before the NBC meet, Beam was undefeated in individual events during the regular season. At the Gibsonburg Invitational, she ran the 1600 in 5:16.16, an eight second improvement from the previous meet record. Woodmore also won a team championship at the Gibsonburg meet.

At the Port Clinton Invitational, she ran the 3200 in 11:26.66, bettering the meet record by 12 seconds and just two seconds off the school record. At the Oak Harbor Invitational, she ran a personal record 3200 in 11:10.16, 11 seconds better than the previous meet record.

Her best ever time in the 1600 is 5:15.64 and in the 800 is 2:23.87 and a 2:20.8 split in the 4x800. 

Beam says wrapping up her career will be hard to take, but she has a strong drive to get back to the state meet before it is all said and done.

“It is definitely bittersweet,” Beam said. “I am really excited to be running in college but it’s definitely going to be hard saying goodbye to Woodmore. I am a little sad about it.”

She has been running with her cross country teammates since they were freshmen, and it will be tough for her to see that end, also.

“They have just been a super special group, especially this year. We are super close, and we all push each other to be our best, so it is going to be really hard saying goodbye to them,” Beam said.

Beam said this whole season has been special just because she learned last year how attached she is to competition on the track.

“I think it was really special after coming back from not having a season last year. It has just really taught me how to appreciate the moment and not take everything for granted. I think that really helped my mindset and helped me be successful this year,” Beam said.

Beam was not Woodmore’s only NBC champion — freshman Azure Travis won the 100-meter hurdles in 16.2 seconds, just off Katelyn Meyer’s record of 15.59 she set running for Eastwood in 2017. Finishing second was Eastwood junior Aubrey Haas (16.54).

In addition, the Woodmore 4x200 meter relay team of Travis, senior Makenna Book and sophomores Rahzia Rios and Vogelpohl won in 1:50.8, nipping a Rossford team (1:51.91).

Vogelpohl also won the 800-meter run in 2:26, beating second place Ward (2:27.23) by over a second.