Carroll Gains A Missoula Sports Hero

One of Missoula’s high school sports heroes will continue his basketball career at an in state college after his 2018 graduation. Sam Beighle of the Sentinel Spartans recently signed a letter of intent to play basketball for Carroll College in Helena Montana.

Beighle has been part of the varsity squad at Sentinel since his freshman year and has been a leader for the Spartans since. Sentinel head boy’s basketball coach Jay Jagelski talks about what he saw in Sam to put him on the court as freshman, “He wasn’t the quickest kid, nor was he very strong, but he had the skill set that we needed on that team.” What was the skill set that Coach Jagelski is talking about, the ability to knock down the three ball. In his first game Sam would step on the court and drop a trio of long balls to get the Spartans back into the game early.

In the following years Sam would dedicate his time in the weight room and work on the intricacies of the game. During the process Beighle would emerge as a silent leader on the court for Coach Jagelski. Sam would have a sound group of athletes to look up to to show him how to be a leader, and the one that helped him the most would be Zaccheus Darko who according to Sam was the team and provided everything for the team Sam’s freshman year. To Sam there were more in the coming years that would help him improve his game, “I think the next years it was Jory (Breen) and Mitch Reynolds, they weren’t all about basketball it was about leadership from them, more about them teaching me about being a leader and not about basketball skills or running the right play.” Both Reynolds and Breen would be a large part of the Spartan basketball program while they attended Sentinel.

Sam’s leadership does not just stay on the court, he is a stand out student and an example in the classroom as well. Beighle has concentrated his time on basketball and does not play any other sport which gives him the ability to maintain a 3.9 GPA as a student. In addition to his skills on the basketball court he has participated in DECA since his sophomore year. Fellow teammate and Sentinel student Elias DeWaters talks about Beighle’s student career, “He’s a straight A student, participates in clubs, and is all around the school, he’s great guy to have in the school.” Sam’s work ethic is not solely concentrated on basketball, it transfers to his studies. Coach Jagelski talks about Sam’s skills in the classroom, “He’s definitely matured over the course of the years by finding ways to become a better academic student.” Coach Jagelski pegs Beighle as a very humble kid and looking at him you would never know that he is one of the top basketball players in the state.

Sam’s decision to stay in state was not a hard one for him to make, he had always planned on staying in Montana to go to continue his academic career. In the process of deciding where to go to college Sam did look outside of Montana, but only at a few schools, “I did not want to go anywhere else, it’s just the way I’ve grown up it’s, always been about Montana and I wanted to stay here.” Carroll College was always at the top despite looking at Montana Western, Rocky, LC State, and Montana Tech. Any time a Montana boy stays in state to attend college is a win for the Montana College system, for Coach Jagelski who attended Carroll it is special to have one of his own play at his alma-matar, “Anytime you get any local boy to stay in the state it is a special thing because they serve as an example to other athletes out there that Montana schools are very prestigious.”

Sam has his senior year to look forward to before he heads to Helena to continue his academic career. As a community we will have one more season of watching Sam lead the Spartans on the basketball court, and will be a leader in the school for the remaining Sentinel students. When I asked Sam what he will be studying at Carroll, he answered that he would like to do something in the medial field, possibly physical therapy. When I asked Coach Jagelski what Sam’s legacy would be when he graduates next spring from Sentinel and his answer was simple, “He’s someone who got the job done, whether it was in the classroom or on the basketball court. That’s something that is very special, and you do not find it with every kid.”