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Knoxville Catholic's Keegan Smith had a robust indoor campaign this past winter which culminated in a new class record in the indoor mile set at New Balance National Indoor on March 11.
By design, he took a month off of racing and did not debut outdoor until April 9, running a leg on a 4x800m relay and a rust-busting 1,600m where he ran 4:24 placing 3rd a CCS FastBreak. The following week he knocked off a little more at Volunteer Track Classic with an impressive 9:09 full two mile which set a new US No. 1 for the distance for freshmen including conversions eight seconds better than the next closest classmate.
Then on Friday at Eastern Relays, he expanded that lead.
Smith's 8:52.95 is the fastest non-FAT split 3,200m run even by a freshman, beating both Tom Hale's 8:54.08(c) set in 1974 and Eli Krahn's 3,200m time of 8:58.67 set in 2016.
For a runner who has postseason racing in mind, it's hard to imagine what he will do a Music City or Festival of Miles type event after a couple more months of training.
Smith is slated to run the mile on Saturday. This article may need updating depending on what occurs in that race. Feel free to tune in Live On MileSplit at 12:21 Eastern when it's scheduled to occur.
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Knoxville Catholic's Keegan Smith had a robust indoor campaign this past winter which culminated in a new class record in the indoor mile set at New Balance National Indoor on March 11.
By design, he took a month off of racing and did not debut outdoor until April 9, running a leg on a 4x800m relay and a rust-busting 1,600m where he ran 4:24 placing 3rd a CCS FastBreak. The following week he knocked off a little more at Volunteer Track Classic with an impressive 9:09 full two mile which set a new US No. 1 for the distance for freshmen including conversions eight seconds better than the next closest classmate.
Then on Friday at Eastern Relays, he expanded that lead.
