Eastbay South
Boys Championship Race Highlight
Keegan Smith
My thought after Keegan ran 14:53 at The Southern Showcase was, "Well how is he going to top that?" or rather "maintain" that from a training standpoint. Sure, he won the ensuing four races after including a state championship but never really showed the flash he had on that day as I watched the livestream. That said, to be successful at this level of racing one needs more than talent. They need confidence in that talent to go out as fast as necessary. In a field like this you can't start the first mile in 30th position and expect to catch 20 runners. Fortunately for Keegan, going out fast doesn't bother him as we saw at state and as we saw in the 3200m time trial at Hardin Valley last Friday. At the one minute mark in the race video above, he takes the first uphill in about 15th place, the next shot he's in 12th, then 10th, then finishes 7th with a time of 15:06, his fastest mark of the season by 23 seconds outside of Southern Showcase.
Keegan Smith is ranked #1 in the nation for the Class of 2025.
The Best of the Rest
The Top 10
| Runner | School | Time |
| Keegan Smith | Knox Catholic | 15:06 |
| Luke Thompson | Brentwood Academy | 15:35 |
| Kaden Keller | Hardin Valley | 15:35 |
| Miles Ramer | Ravenwood | 15:40 |
| Jack Bowen | McCallie | 15:51 |
| Blake Yuenger | Central Magnet | 16:03 |
| Will Douglas | Camden Central | 16:05 |
| Cade Crum | Bearden | 16:11 |
| Tucker Allen | Chester Co. | 16:13 |
| Connor Henson | Columbia Academy | 16:18 |
The only other runner I could see on camera that made that concerted effort to go out with the lead pack was Kaden Keller. I think last week's 3200m Time Trial where he finished in 9:08 was a big confidence booster for the senior from Hardin Valley and while 15:35 may not be a PR, I think he's likely pleased with a 26th place finish. He'll be doubling back and running with Hardin Valley as a team at Running Lane next Saturday. What also stands out is that Keller is the only senior in the top five for the state. There are no juniors for that matter as well. Smith and Bowen are freshmen, Thompson and Ramer are sophomores, and Crum is a freshman as well. Assuming they continue to improve, this group of runners has the potential to match or exceed the Class of 2019 who sent four runners to nationals.