Briegan Bester left soccer to run - and run well

When Briegan Bester arrived at Central Valley High School, she was certain soccer would be the sport in which she would excel.

Little did Bester know that her sporting career would take a different path – one that would meander along various different terrains in the fall and around an oval in the spring.

Soccer was the only sport that Bester knew growing up. She graduated to playing club when she reached middle school and was a midfielder on the junior varsity the fall of her freshman year.

Conditioning is a key element to soccer. When she had to do a 3-mile preseason run her freshman year she didn’t blink.

Bester finished first on that run. She thought it was a respectable time so she asked her father to ask Bears cross country coach Dennis McGuire what he thought.

McGuire had become aware of Bester during the summer when she did some training with girls on his team.

“I really wanted her to run,” McGuire recalled. “She ran with the top group and they were pretty good. I knew she would have fit in.”

Bester decided to stay with what was familiar. But when spring rolled around, she turned out for track.

She had immediate success. Track coach Geoff Arte and McGuire knew that they had found something special.

“It wasn’t a tough sell,” McGuire said of convincing Bester that cross country and track were her future not soccer.

The summer between Bester’s freshman and sophomore years, the coaches contacted Mead standout runner Baylee Mires and asked her to come over and meet Bester. To the coaches, Bester had the body type and potential they saw in Mires, who has had a nice career at the University of Washington.

Last weekend, Mires, a senior, took third in the Pac-12 Conference championships in the 800 meters in a personal best 2 minutes, 3.91 seconds.

“She’s a role model to me,” Bester said. “I definitely look up to her because she’s accomplished so much. She’s had an impact on me, and she’s a really great person. We’re Facebook friends and I texted her when I signed (with the University of Washington).”

Arte thinks UW is potentially getting another Mires with Bester.

The shy to a fault Bester is different when it’s time to compete.

“What people don’t understand about Briegan is she is so competitive between the lines,” Arte said. “Off the track Baylee had a bubbly personality but when she’s on the track she goes after it. That’s the same way with Briegan.”

Arte laughed when he recalled the first 1,600 Bester ran as a freshman.

“She bolted out like it was a sprint, it looked like she was running the 100,” Arte said. “She held on and won and had a good time (5:29). She beat three kids who were on the state-placing cross country team. One of the things I’m most proud about her is she’s matured as a racer.”

By the end of her freshman season, Bester tied the school record in the 800 to the hundredth of a second (2:13.65) and took sixth at state and seventh in the 1,600.

Over time Bester has become a student of strategy.

“It’s really fun to come up with a strategy for your race and go out there knowing what you’re doing,” Bester said.

Bester’s sophomore year was a lost year by most measures. She came down with mononucleosis during cross country and had to take some time off. She came back in time for regionals and ran at state but wasn’t anywhere close to being in shape.

Mono nagged her through the winter, and she wasn’t able to spend quality time training. Then in track she suffered a hip injury and didn’t qualify for state.

Bester came back strong her junior year. In track, she placed fifth in the 800 and 1,600 and ran a leg on the fifth place 1,600 relay. One of the highlights of the season was cracking 5 minutes in the 1,600 (4:59.99).

One of the toughest races she’s ever done came last year on an overly hot day at regionals after she had run the 800 and 1,600.

An injury forced Arte to find a replacement on the 1,600 relay. He chose Bester but she was hesitant. She didn’t think she had enough gas left to help the team.

Arte and McGuire knew different. McGuire played bad cop and talked with Bester for 15 minutes. Then he passed her off to Arte, who played good cop coyly saying it was her choice but knowing full well she would run.

“Briegan and Dennis had a misunderstanding and there were some tears involved on her part,” Arte said. “She ended up running one of the fastest (legs) ever.”

Bester found a competitive reservoir even she didn’t know existed.

“That made me realize she’s going to be really good in college,” Arte said. “That led her to believe that she’s really tougher than she even thought she was.”

Said McGuire: “I made her mad and she went out and ran a great race. She found out she didn’t have to talk herself out of something – she could talk herself into something.”

Bester, who carries a 3.94 grade-point average, has been an example to her teammates on and off the track. She was named CV’s senior female scholar athlete of the year for the GSL.

She is poised to lower her times with the state-qualifying regional meet Friday and Saturday at Fran Risch Stadium in Richland.

“She’s ready to run faster,” Arte said. “She’s in really good shape and healthy.”