Wilson Hall's Smith breaks own school record, wins state title on way to Hines Furniture Athlete of the Week

Wilson Hall's Connor Smith is used to being self-motivated in cross country meets.

Throughout his career, the senior has regularly been so far out in front that he's winning races by minutes, not seconds.

Surely the SCISA 4A state championship would be different, right? Not so much.

Smith won his first state title in a landslide. There was nearly a full minute between the Baron senior and Ben Lippen's Luke McCrudden. That dominant performance was also enough for Smith to win the Hines Furniture Athlete of the Week.

"I love to see it," Smith said of the support of the Wilson Hall community. "I love seeing that people are thinking about what I've done and see the effort I've put into it."

Smith won the title on a course he's very familiar with. Earlier this fall, the senior broke 16 minutes for the first time at the course at Heathwood Hall. On Saturday, he wanted to push the envelope early in the race. It certainly paid off, as he built a comfortable lead immediately and finished with a new personal best of 15:52.54.

"I wanted to kind of push the pace a little early on, just in case there were people that were going to try to stick with me," Smith said. "I was hoping if I pushed the pace and they tried to stick with me, they would fall off by the second and third mile."

Wilson Hall head coach Reid Schwartz gives Smith all of the credit for that game plan going into the race.

"With Connor, it's more just telling him to run hard. There's only so much you can tell a kid like that who is super smart and a super savvy racer," the head coach admitted. "He came in with the mindset of opening up pretty fast. His first mile was 4:50, which is much faster than he's run a first mile in any other race this year. He just wanted to create that gap between himself and the field.

"That was his main strategy, but I can't take credit for that. Connor knows a whole lot about running and racing."

Running against a field that's unable to keep pace is a challenge. Smith said it's all mental.

"It's just all about pushing yourself and keeping yourself accountable for how fast you're going, not trying to go too fast at the start, but not trying to slow down too much," the senior said. "In my opinion, it takes a little more mental strength to get a PR on your own."

Schwartz was impressed by Smith's ability to continue to push himself when the competition was so far behind.

"He has upped his game each and every year. To be able to witness that has been pretty incredible," Schwartz said. "We always knew he was a good runner, but to see him put it together at state and reach a time we knew he was capable of in this particular field (was great).

"Connor has always been able to up his game when competition is around him, but what he did at region and what he did at region and state when there wasn't as much competition was really special. He just went out there and dominated."

Smith still has a lot of running left at Wilson Hall. This winter, he'll run his first indoor track season with Wilson Hall track coach Rip Ripley's AAU program, Sumter Speed. Then his attention turns back to the Barons and more Wilson Hall records this spring.

"I feel good about it because I've been working for it for more than just this year; I've been working on it for three years," Smith said of the title. "I'm taking this week off training, but after that, I'll get right back to it.

"It never really stops."

While Smith is done with cross country at Wilson Hall, his impact will be felt for years to come. Young runners like eighth-graders Caulder Williams and Abel Ayers, who both finished in the Top 15 at state, were able to learn a lot from the senior runner. He hopes his records push them to keep improving.

"I think the eighth-graders will be doing some great stuff by the time they're seniors," Smith said. "I think they're going to take down my record, to be honest."

Schwartz thinks Smith's leadership will have that lasting effect.

"Going into this year, everyone knew that Connor was a great runner, but one thing that he worked really hard on this year is becoming a leader. He sets the example day in and day out at practice," Schwartz said. "If you think he's intense during a race day, you should come to practice and see him there. He takes practice very seriously. That carries down to some of the younger guys.

"I'm excited they were able to witness that and learn from Connor. He's done a great job of leading by example and leading with his words."