Going From Spectacle to Spectacular : College track: Glendale hurdler Marty Beck had a disastrous debut last season, but this year he is unbeaten.

Marty Beck never ran hurdles in high school.

And after his debut in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles as a Glendale College freshman last season, it seemed likely that he would never run them again.

“I had never done any hurdles in my life,” Beck said. “After that first race, I swore that I would never do it again. I had no form whatsoever. I wasn’t scared as much as I was stressed out. It was tiring and I bruised my knee.

“I hated it.”

Beck’s lack of finesse during that race in December, 1988, at an all-comers meet at UCLA made a big impression on Glendale hurdles coach Jon Gold.

“It was absolutely amazing that he was able to finish the race without wiping out,” Gold recalled. “His arms were flailing all over the place. After each hurdle it looked like he was about to tip over, but somehow each time he regained his balance.

“I don’t think he knew what he was getting into.”

He knows now. Beck has learned his lessons and used his talents so well that no hurdler has been able to defeat him this season, and he has been named the Western State Conference Track Athlete of the Year. He will take part in the Southern California finals Saturday with designs on a berth in the state track meet.

Beck, 20, came to Glendale on the advice of his father, who was familiar with the track program’s reputation.

Glendale has won 14 conference titles in the past 16 years and has posted a dual-meet record of 143-2, including 123 victories in a row, during that span.

In 1987, as a junior at Clayton Valley High in Concord, Beck was the Northern Coast Section champion in the long jump and advanced to the state meet with a best of 22 feet 11 inches. He also ran the 100 meters in 10.5 seconds and the 200 in 21.7.

“I originally planned on doing the sprints and long jump (at Glendale),” Beck said, “but for some reason they decided to put me in the intermediate hurdles.”

Gold had a reason.

“Marty was a 100 and 200 sprinter, but had run the 400 before,” Gold said of the 6-foot-2, 175-pound Beck. “We already had six or seven guys in the 200 and 400 and we needed help in the hurdles. He was the new kid on the block so he kind of got forced into it.”

Despite Beck’s pronounced dislike for the event, in which a contestant must contend with 10 three-foot-high hurdles spaced 35 meters apart around the 400-meter track, he continued with Gold’s wishes. Progress followed.

“He hated it, but he didn’t seem to argue too much,” Gold said. “He was receptive and willing to try it. We just kept on working on it and little by little, he just started to take off.”

Beck won the WSC meet last season and then surprised even himself by placing third in the Southern California finals in 52.82.

“When I won the conference, I figured I could make it to Southern California finals,” Beck said, “but I never thought that I would make it past there.”

In the state meet, Beck’s inexperience was evident.

Starting in Lane 9, the farthest outside lane, for the first time and unable to see any of his opponents, Beck bolted to a 10-meter lead by the midway point, but then faded badly.

He finished last in 55.33, more than four seconds behind the winner and almost two seconds behind eighth place.

“I was really upset about it,” Beck said. “It was terrible. I was nervous and went out really hard for the first 200. I didn’t know whether to bust out or go with them. I chose the former and then everybody got me.”

Beck has learned his lesson well. This season he has gone undefeated against junior college, four-year college and open competition.

“It’s been incredible running in all these invitationals,” said Beck, who has won invitational meets at USC and Cal State Northridge this season. “It’s been really mind-boggling. I haven’t had anyone to run with. I keep running and there is no one to push me.”

Beck can expect some fast company when he competes Saturday in the Southern California finals at Cerritos College. He will compete in the intermediates and run on Glendale’s 1,600-meter relay team.

The top four in each event will advance to the state meet, May 19 at Santa Barbara City College, along with the fastest fifth-place finisher from either the Southern or Northern California finals.

Beck won his heat of the intermediates in the Southern California preliminaries last Saturday in 53.52 to advance to the finals with the No. 3 mark.

“Last year, we were just trying to get him around the track,” Gold said. “In the intermediates, you can get away with bad form if you have the speed to run in between the hurdles. But if you want to run at a high level, you’ve got to have good form. If you compare Marty this year to last year, there’s no comparison.

“It’s like watching two completely different hurdlers.”

Beck showed his good side two weeks ago in the WSC finals in Bakersfield, winning the intermediates in a personal-best 51.84, more than a half-second off his previous best of 52.35 set earlier this year.

He was named the WSC’s top track athlete and finished more than three seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, breaking a meet record that had stood since 1975.

Beck also placed second in the 400 meters in 47.59 and then anchored Glendale’s 1,600-meter relay team to a third-place finish with a 46.2 leg.

Although recruited primarily for the long jump, in which he leaped 24-1, Beck, who has orally committed to UCLA, has gained most notoriety in the hurdles.

“That’s the impression I’ve gotten,” Beck said.

“I’m still not comfortable running the hurdles and still don’t like it too much. I’m still not used to running around the track with something to jump over, but I’m really excited (to run at UCLA). It’s a dream come true.”

Said CSUN Coach Don Strametz: “I think he can really help UCLA. He has a real good future in the intermediate hurdles and they really need him there. He has also has the ability to run in a combination of events.”

Since Bob Larsen became UCLA coach in 1985, the Bruins have gone 46-0-1. In addition, UCLA has won three consecutive Pacific 10 Conference championships and NCAA titles two out of the past three years.

But Beck has another hurdle this season.

“I want to be state champion,” he said. “I think that I’ve put everything else on the back burner. I can do it. I’ve got to put all the pieces together and run my own race.”