Pandemic cancels Beckett’s final collegiate races

He was the first in school history to earn an athletic scholarship for cycling when Carson Beckett, a 2016 Marshall County High School graduate, headed to Brevard College in Brevard, NC to compete for the Tornados.

With his primary focus the fall collegiate mountain bike season, Beckett also competed in cyclocross and was set to race with Brevard College this spring in gravel race events  – the first collegiate team in the nation to form a gravel racing team – before the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the remaining gravel and road races of the year.

Beckett was instrumental in forming the Marshall County Mountain Bike Team as a sophomore and went on to become a 3-time Varsity State Champion in the Tennessee Interscholastic Cycling League, helping to lead the team to three Tennessee State Championships each of those years. He received the National Interscholastic Cycling League’s Trek All-Star Student Athlete award in 2014.

As a freshman at MCHS, Beckett won a National Championship in both Cross Country and Super D events at USA Cycling Mountain Bike Nationals and in the 2014 nationals, took second in Super D and third in both Cross Country and Short Track races.

While in high school, Beckett also raced as part of the Whole Athlete/Specialized Cycling Team, based in California, and placed in the top five of all five US Cup/Pro XCT junior 17-18 national events in 2015.

He has represented the United States in three UCI Mountain Bike World Championships in Norway, Andorra and Switzerland and has been a part of several USA Cycling World Cup teams competing across Europe and in Canada.

His freshman year at Brevard College, Beckett won the Southeastern Collegiate Cycling Conference Cross Country championship race, was part the team’s D1 USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championship at Snowshoe Mountain, WV and a member of the National Champion Team Relay. He finished fourth on the Individual Omnium podium that combines all four disciplines – Cross Country, Short Track, Downhill and Dual Slalom. He won a second national title in Team Relay with Brevard College Cycling at the USA Cycling Collegiate Cyclocross National Championship in Hartford, CT and the team went on to win their second national title of the year, the D1 Collegiate Cyclocross National Championship.

Beckett was selected Brevard College Athlete of the Year and Brevard College Cycling Athlete of the Year his freshman year.

His successful sophomore season led to an  SECCC Individual Omnium title and he went on to take third in Short Track and second in Team Relay at the USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals in Missoula, MT. Beckett won another stars and stripes jersey in the Team Relay event at the USA Cycling Collegiate Cyclocross Nationals in Reno, NV, helping the Tornados to a third place finish in Team Omnium.

As a junior, Beckett took several SECCC wins in Cross Country and Short Track races and helped lead the team to a fourth place finish at the USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals in Montana while taking third in Individual Omnium and second in Team Relay.

Beckett began his senior season a perfect six for six in Cross Country and Short Track wins in Brevard’s first three SECCC races. At the USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals in Big Bear, CA, he placed third in Individual Omnium, second in Team Relay, sixth in Cross Country and seventh in Short Track to help Brevard College take third in Team Omnium. In January, the team finished runner-up in Lakewood, WA at USA Cycling Collegiate Cyclocross Nationals.

While competing for Brevard College, he also raced nationally and internationally for the California-based Bear Pro Team.

With his senior year on the team cut shorter than expected, Beckett said his favorite memories of his four years with Brevard College Cycling – “the back to back weekends filled with mountain bike races across the Southeast, early morning van rides and coach-made oatmeal stand out. However, my favorite memory has to be being a part of the national championship team my first year here.”

Photo: Victoria Brayman/Brevard College Athletics