Going from the pitch to track, Franklin Regional grad Ryan Beard became an All-American at Westminster
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Ryan Beard was a key cog in Franklin Regional’s run to the first of back-to-back WPIAL Class 3A soccer championships in 2018.
The midfielder was recruited to play at Westminster College.
But growing concerns over multiple concussions — six that were diagnosed, including one in the PIAA quarterfinals against Cathedral Prep — made him reconsider his future plans.
That, and his lingering fondness for another sport: track and field. Anyone who watched Beard play soccer knew he had wheels.
So, what happened when he got to college?
The Westminster track team grew a Beard.
“Originally, I planned to rest during the spring soccer season during my senior year (of high school),” said Beard, a senior at Westminster. “I had full intentions of returning to the pitch in the fall and beginning my collegiate career at Westminster. However, the further removed I became from the game, the more I realized that I was ready to close that chapter in my life. I decided that I no longer wanted to put my head at risk, so my plan was to completely step away from sports.”
Encouragement from friends nudged him back to track in his senior year at Franklin Regional.
“I realized I had a burning passion for the sport,” he said.”
That quickly became evident when he got to Westminster and someone put a baton in his hands. Beard worked himself into a key role on the Titans’ 400-meter relay team.
A 4.0 accounting student, he became an All-American on the track and could also become one in the classroom.
The 4-by-1 foursome won indoor and outdoor Presidents’ Athletic Conference titles, breaking program and conference records and competing at the NCAA Division III Championships — the first relay from Westminster to do so.
The team finished seventh nationally with a time of 40.80 seconds to garner All-American recognition.
Beard was the second leg in races. He ran with senior Amon Sams, senior Jacob Patton and junior Shamar Love.
“Each member of our relay team is extremely competitive and dedicated to improving which allows us to have great chemistry,” Beard said. “We became a tight-knit group following our spring break trip to Myrtle Beach which I believe set up our successful season.”
Motivated by perceived “doubters,” Beard thrives on proving those people wrong.
“I want to prove to them and myself that I am capable of doing great things,” he said. “I keep Post-It notes on my bathroom mirror of all the things people have said to doubt me, which keeps me motivated each day. I am obsessed with reaching my full potential, and I plan to continue striving to reach it moving forward.”
Beard was a recipient of the Elite 90 Award, handed to the national-qualifying athlete with the top grade-point average.
Beard will attend Georgetown in the fall to pursue his master’s degree in science and finance.
The concussions, Beard said, affected his everyday life.
“I noticed that it became increasingly difficult for me to focus, and I began to get daily migraines,” he said. “It was certainly manageable, but the bigger challenge was the time I had to miss from school and soccer. Nearly every year from sixth grade through 12th grade, I had to spend time doing makeup work. I knew that in college this challenge would be magnified which played a role in my decision to step away from the game. I’m blessed to say that I no longer deal with those problems, and I seem to have fully healed.”
Beard said it took him about two months to finally settle on a decision to give up soccer.
“There were times during my college career that I seriously considered returning to the game,” he said. “Soccer provided me with some of my best friends and memories, and I felt like I never had the chance to give it a proper good-bye. Track has filled that competitive void in my life, and it has provided me with so much joy. Being a full-time track athlete has been amazing, and I wish I would’ve started sprinting at a younger age.”
The academic success, which is going to take him much farther than soccer or track, shows Beard’s work ethic goes beyond athletics.
He graduated college in three years.
“My success in the classroom is a greater reflection of my self-discipline as opposed to raw intellect,” he said. “In order to graduate a year early, I dedicated between 50 and 60 hours per week to the classroom. This was either through studying, working internships, or getting involved with clubs and other activities. During the track season, I’d spend another 20 hours dedicated to my development as an athlete. It is a high number of hours, but I was fortunate to be involved with things that I am passionate about. I rarely found myself feeling burnt out because I got to develop my passions with that time.”
He is set to begin work as an audit intern at Deloitte, an audit advisory and consulting company in Pittsburgh.