Beck back on track as FHS coach
Lexie (Miller) Beck can no longer run or jump, but that isn’t keeping her away from the sport she loves.
The former Flathead High star, who holds one of the oldest high school track and field records in the state and competed in the Olympic trials in the early 80s before a car crash nearly took her life, has returned to Legends Stadium this spring for the first time as a coach.
“All my life I knew I’d come back and I knew I wanted to come back,” said Beck, who was born and raised in Kalispell and is the daughter of the late Moose Miller, who opened Moose’s Saloon. “I thought if I don’t come now I won’t come. The stars lined up. People told me you can’t come back, you can’t go home, it’s not the same. But I love being back.”
Anyone curious of Miller’s coaching credentials need only look at the records for today’s 36th annual Archie Roe Invitational track meet, which starts at 10 a.m. with running and field events at Legends Stadium.
The 48-year-old, who is mentoring hurdlers at Flathead, holds the meet’s oldest record — 14.4 in the 100 hurdles, set in 1979. As a senior that year, Beck turned in one of more memorable seasons to date, shattering records at Archie Roe and later at the state meet.
In Billings that year, Beck set two state records, in the long jump and the 100 hurdles, on her way to winning four events and placing second in another. She was the leading point-getter as Flathead’s girls won their third state championship in a row.
While her hurdle record was broken 10 years later, Beck’s long
jump of 18-11 1/4 is the third oldest all-class girls record still standing.
From there, Beck went to the University of Oregon and lettered all four years in track. She still holds the school record in the 400 meter hurdles (57.08), set in 1983, and had her 1981 100 hurdle record of 13.67 broken just last year. She competed at the Olympic trials in 1980 and ’84.
After a stellar athletic career, Miller’s life nearly ended tragically in 1991 when she was in a head-on car collision that put her into a coma for a month. After being hospitalized for 4 1/2 months, Beck regained her ability to walk but forever lost all motor skills on her right side.
“I limp and I can’t run and I can’t hurdle and I can’t do anything, so it’s been hard to get the kids to understand that I know what I’m talking about, because obviously I can’t do anything,” Beck said. “But they’re becoming believers.”
It also just so happens that the two best long jumpers in the state this season reside in Kalispell — Flathead’s Tess Brenneman (18-4) and Glacier’s Maddey Frey (18- 1/2).
“I’ve come to the conclusion that I’d be OK if either one of them breaks the record because it will stay in Kalispell,” Beck said. “If anybody breaks it I’d like it to be somebody here.
“It’s all about these kids now,” she later added. “It’s nice just to be here and if I can help somebody have the succes that I had or lead them to that, that would be great.”
36th Annual Archie Roe Invitational
Today at Legends Stadium
Schools attending — Bigfork, Browning, Columbia Falls, Cut Bank, Flathead, Frenchtown, Glacier, Libby, Eureka (Lincoln County), Missoula Loyola, Missoula Big Sky, Missoula Sentinel, Missoula Hellgate, Plains, Polson, Shelby, Thompson Falls, Whitefish
Schedule — Field events, 10 a.m.; Running events, 10 a.m. (100 trials, 3200, 110 hurdles, 100 hurdles, 400 relay, 100 finals, 800, 400, 300 hurdles, 1600, 200, 1600 relay)
*All running events besides 100 trials will run in this order: freshman boys, JV boys, varsity boys, freshman girls, JV girls, varsity girls
Archie Roe Records
BOYS
100 — 10.70, Craig Galle, Flathead, 1995
200 — 21.90, Ralph Dempsey, Cut Bank, 1991
400 — 49.25, Cody Henning, Whitefish, 2004
800 — 1:55.90, David Vidal, Flathead, 2001
1600 — 4:17.40, David Vidal, Flathead, 2000
3200 — 9:23.90, Seth Watkins, Flathead, 2001
110 hurdles — 14.10, Jamison Banna, Flathead, 1988
300 hurdles — 39.00, Jamison Banna, Flathead, 1988
400 relay — 42.90, Missoula Hellgate (Mark Terrazas, Robb Hollenbeck, Mike Molloy, Joe Thompson), 2002
1600 relay — 3:23.80, Whitefish (Justin Scoggin, Chris Hicks, Cody Henning, Matt Helgath), 2004
Long jump — 22-7 1/2, Trevor Gunlock, Polson, 2000
Triple jump — 46-8 1/2, David Schwenk, Missoula Big Sky, 1998
High jump — 7-0, Mark Koefelda, Missoula Hellgate, 1993
Pole vault — 15-6, Curt Rogers, Whitefish, 2007
Shot put — 60-5 1/2, Scott Steckel, Havre, 1980
Discus — 187-7, Lee Tillman, Havre, 1987
Javelin — 206-4, Nate Bach, Thompson Falls, 2005
GIRLS
100 — 12.5, Michelle Cartwright, Havre, 1985; Kim Kindle, Eureka, 1995
200 — 25.8, Emily Alspaugh, Missoula Hellgate, 1999
400 — 57.29, Chantelle Grey, Missoula Sentinel, 2009
800 — 2:16.3, Kasey Harwood, Polson, 2003
1600 — 5:07.3, Zoe Nelson, Flathead, 2004
3200 — 10:27.9, Zoe Nelson, Flathead, 2004
100 hurdles — 14.4, Lexie Miller, Flathead, 1979; Claudine Robinson, Missoula Hellgate, 1989
300 hurdles — 44.91, Kasey Harwood, Polson, 2003
400 relay — 49.66, Flathead (Brittany Berger, Cricket Johnston, Molly Burt, Krista Jimenez), 2003
1600 relay — 4:03.1, Flathead (Ashley Younkin, Jenae Lister, Nicole Hall, Shannon Ross), 2007
Shot put — 44-6 1/4, Laine Botchek, Missoula Big Sky, 1999
Discus — 148-9, Bree Fuga, Polson, 1999
Javelin (new) — 153-9, Marissa Tschida, Missoula Loyola, 2005
High jump — 5-9, Brenda Naber, Havre, 1992
Long jump — 17-9, Tanya Tesar, Columbia Falls, 1989
Triple jump — 37-4 1/4, Kasey Harwood, Polson, 2004
Pole vault — 12-3, Melinda Owen, Polson, 2003