It's a Family Affair for Gardner
by Jim McCue, Auburn Journal
October 6, 2005 Through periods of change, family has always remained a constant source of support and guidance for Bethany Gardner. The Newcastle native and Del Oro graduate is still close to her family despite living over 500 miles away on the campus of Long Beach State.
Family played a role in Gardner heading south to Long Beach for college as she followed her older sister, Rachel, to the school. Rachel, now a senior Spanish major, even helped Bethany get an "in" with the 49ers' cross country coach at the time she was considering colleges."I wasn't really interested in any other colleges," Bethany Gardner said of her choice to attend Long Beach State. "I visited my sister on a few occasions while she was at school and she helped me get in contact with the coach because she was in his jogging class."
While Rachel paved the way for Bethany to head south, Rachel is not the lone source of family support. Their parents, Charles and Leta Gardner, attend every "local" race in Southern California and make it to additional meets within a reasonable drive in Northern California, like the recent Stanford Invitational.
With family constantly surrounding her, it's no surprise that Bethany is interested in a field of study based on family. While her major is currently undeclared, Gardner expects to pursue a degree in child development and family studies.
"I was originally interested in nursing, but I think that I would like to earn a degree with which I can open a home day care," she said. "I love kids and would like to be able to be around them, including my own children."
In the meantime, Bethany will complete her general education courses and compete with the 49ers' cross country team. Long Beach State is a rising program in the Big West Conference and Gardner is hopeful that the team can challenge conference powers UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara this year.
"If we can all race to our potential, then we can beat them," Gardner said of competing for a conference title. "We hope to place in the top two in conference, which would be great since it is still a developing program that is getting better each year."
The 49ers travel to Terre Haute, Indiana for the NCAA Pre-Nationals on Oct. 15 as a final tune-up for the Big West Championships on Oct. 29 in Riverside.
Gardner's start into cross country began with a simple desire to compete in middle school. When the President's Physical Fitness program rolled around each year, Bethany enjoyed running the 1-mile race and tried each time to "beat the boys." Eventually, she started winning mile races and became more involved when Rachel, who is two years older than Bethany, joined Del Oro's cross country squad as a sophomore.
Bethany tried to balance cross country with soccer, but the favorite sport of her childhood (soccer) would give way to track and field in order to allow her to train for distance running year-round.
"I wanted to keep playing soccer, but track and soccer have the same season, so I decided to go with track," she said. "If I was just competing in one event in track, then I might have tried to do both. Fatigue and the risk of injury was the reason I had to choose."
The choice has paid off in the form of a partial athletic scholarship at Long Beach State and an extended family - the cross country and track teams. That extended family makes the time away from her immediate family easier to take.
"The first couple of months away at school were hard," Bethany said. "My sister was studying abroad last year, but it was easy to make friends because I had a whole group of people with common interests on the cross country and track teams to train with and hang out with."
When she's not training on the streets of Long Beach or attending classes, Bethany manages to squeeze in some leisure time at the movies or just out on the town. Of course, wherever she is, you can count on someone familiar nearby. |
