Anna Beaudet of Bates College graduated from Edward Little High School in Auburn. 

LEWISTON — After a winter season battling sickness and just plain getting her bearings, former Edward Little track and field standout Anna Beaudet is finally finding her groove this spring as a freshman at Bates College.

“It’s been (going) really well,” Beaudet said. “It took a lot of adjustment at the beginning I would say, from getting use to the new schedule and how they run practices and stuff. It’s good, it’s been good.”

She started the spring season off with a third-place finish in one of her marquee events, the 200-meter dash, with a time of 27.44 seconds at the University of Maine tri-meet against Maine and the University of New Hampshire. In the 100-meter dash, she had a sixth place finish with a time of 13.37 seconds.

This past weekend at a home meet against MIT, Tufts and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, she finished sixth in the 200 with a time of 27.18. She also had a sixth place finish in the 100-meter dash with a time of 13.21.

Beaudet has also been on the 4×100 relay B team, where she helped Bates to a fourth-place finish at the home meet and a second-place finish at the UMaine tri-meet.

She has also been practicing with the A team if she’s needed on later on in the season in that role.

“It’s a lot harder being a student-athlete here compared to high school,” Beaudet said. “Classes are way more rigorous here and its harder to balance. The coaches have supported me, and that’s been good. Practices are a little longer here and the workouts are a lot more intense than I am used to. That has taken some time to get used to. Going to the weight room on my own time, outside of practice is hard to get used to. But now, I am use to it.”

Her coach sees her making an impact at some of the key meets down the stretch.

“We have our NESCAC meet at Bowdoin, she’ll be in that meet, probably in a couple different events,” Bates coach Jennifer Hartshorn said. “From there, it would be great if she got to the experience of going to New England Division III’s as a freshmen. That’s always great to see how that competition is like.” 

Even though she got sick during the indoor tack season, she did have some success early on. In her first meet of her collegiate career at MIT, she finished sixth in the 200-meter dash and fourth in the triple jump with a leap of 32 feet, 3 inches. She finished fifth at Bates’ home meet in the 60-meter dash with a time of 8.46.

She finished 14th in the 200-meter dash at the Maine State Women’s Championship and had a time of 27.55 at Boston University’s David Hemery Valentine Invitational in the 200. In the 4×200 relay at the DIII New England Women’s Indoor Track and Field Championships, she helped the Bobcats to an eighth-place finish with a time of 1:50.28.

“I think it has gone really well,” Bates coach Hartshorn said. “Probably outdoors has gone better than indoor. She had that typical freshman, got sick right in the middle of the indoor (season) and it really hurt that chunk of time. Our season is really different than other sports where everything is within a couple of weeks. Outdoors, I think she has been in more of a groove and I am excited for the rest of the season.”

One thing Beaudet likes about college track and field is the bigger roster size, which allows her to focus on the sprint races and get better at those races without competing in an event where she might not be as strong.

She’s also one of 12 Mainers on the team, which also includes Leavitt graduate Ashley Pratt — another freshmen. 

“There’s a few Maine girls, that’s nice to be teammates with some of the Maine girls,” Beaudet said.

Being from Auburn has its advantages, especially when school isn’t in session —she’s still able to use the gym and other facilities to stay in shape.

Hartshorn said she likes to have a few local kids on her roster, so the kids coming from out of state gets to know some locals.

“It’s really important because the kids that are coming from away, it’s just really cool for them to meet people who have spent their whole lives here and call this home versus like a four year home,” Hartshorn said. “I think it helps the transition of people getting to know the locals in the community a lot better. You have to start with someone who’s a really strong student and someone who wants to stay close to home.”

nfournier@sunjournal.com