Mt. Pleasant grad Sam Beatty wins national title

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA — Former Mt. Pleasant standout Sam Beatty has joined elite company at Central College. The senior men's high jumper won the national title at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday, March 11.

It's the eighth indoor national title for the Dutch men's track and field program.

It's the third high jump title for a Central male indoors, as Beatty joins Ethan Miller in 2011 and Cale Van Genderen in 2005. As a school, Central now has 37 total individual national titles across all sports.

“He started off strong,” coach Brandon Sturman said. “He cleared the first two bars on the first attempt which was awesome. He missed the first bar at the third height, but he settled himself in and did what he needed to do to get to the next height. He cleared the next bar on his first attempt and that ended up being the difference of him winning it.”

Beatty was one of two competitors to clear the bar at six feet, nine inches after eight athletes bowed out at the mark.

Beatty and Samuel Hetrick of Penn State University — Behrend both missed all three attempts at 6-10.25, but Hetrick had one more miss at the lower bars than Beatty, giving him the victory by tiebreaker.

“He looked pretty relaxed and focused all day,” Sturman said. “Once it got down to two guys, I think it took some pressure off and it ended up working out for him.”

In the team standings, the Dutch men finished in a tie for 20th with 10 points.

The Dutch start the outdoor season on March 31 with the Washington University Distance Carnival in St. Louis, Missouri.