Aggie cross country team boasts one of conference’s most promising young duos

“I wanted to do something where I’m constantly going. No stopping.”

This is what freshman cross-country runner Luke Beattie said on his decision to join the cross country program at Utah State University. Beattie is particularly passionate about the outdoors. His desire to come to Utah State went far beyond the scholarly opportunities.

“One thing that brought me here was the outdoors,” Beattie said. “I wanted to go somewhere where there are mountains.”

Beattie’s active agenda consists not only of running.

“In my free time, I like hiking, and I’ve also gone snowboarding and cross country skiing,” Beattie said. “I do random sports here and there with my friends”

His interest in sports has brought him to try new things, but Beattie’s love for an active lifestyle doesn’t stop there.

“I’m studying recreation resource management,” Beattie said. After discovering Utah State offered his major, Beattie was excited to be a part of the Aggie family.

During his senior year of high school, Beattie competed in the state cross-country championships, but his most recent accomplishment came this year. Beattie was awarded the Mountain West Freshman of the Year on the men’s side. However, Beattie does not hold this title to himself.

“He should’ve gotten the award with me,” Beattie said, referring to his teammate, Darren Harman.

Harman, also a freshman on Utah State’s cross-country team, has been titled champion a number of times in both high school and state events. Harman was especially outstanding in high school, where he earned himself the position of a 12-time letterwinner.

“It’s nice to see that It went to a teammate,” Harman said in regard to Beattie winning conference Freshman of the Year.

Assistant head coach Artie Gulden was especially impressed by the freshmen’s performances thus far.

“Luke won freshman of the year. The only reason Darren didn’t win freshman of the year was because his teammate won. So we had the two best freshman in the conference. Which is really good,” Gulden said.

“What I primarily look at when recruiting is their improvement curve, if they improved throughout high school then it’s promising that they will improve in college too,” Gulden said.

It was no question that Beattie and Harmon would be promising athletes for years to come. The duo’s decision to join Utah State rested on a number of factors. For Harman, who is majoring in business, religion and his major played a large role in his decision-making process.

“I knew I would end up in Utah for school because I am LDS and I wanted the environment,” Harman said.

“In terms of picking them for the program, It’s just the process of recruiting,” Gulden said. “I use the analogy it’s almost like the process of dating before marriage, you figure out if they would be a good fit for Utah State, so we decided that It would be good to have them on the team”.

The decision has proved a positive one for everyone.

“They work hard and they try to be great athletes and they’re also good people too, as well as good students,” Gulden said.