Orey Smith: My High School Running Career

By: Orey Smith

Taylor(#3923) and I(#3929) after my disappointing District meet
where I placed 15th. 

It wasn't until after XC season had ended during my junior year of high school that running finally started to "click" for me. I remember ending the season with a disappointing 15th place finish at our District meet, rendering me unable to go on to the Regional and State meets. After expressing my frustrations to my high school coach, he informed me as to what I had been doing wrong. At first I was confused - I had completed hundreds of fast intervals around the track throughout the season and yet my race performances still showed no signs or indications of improvement. My coach suggested two things to me - first, to start running twice a day, 4-5 days per week to help focus more of my energy on distance runs in the afternoons. His second suggestion was to hold off on running intervals until I had developed the appropriate level of fitness. Over a period of three months, my fitness took a major leap to reveal some hidden potential that was previously unapparent. In my junior year of track, I took a total of 39 seconds off of my 3200m time from the previous year. This helped me to go from 10:02 to 9:23 in my first race of the season simply because I had started to focus on the right type of training.

Me (green) during
my Junior year at District.
(placed 2nd in the 3200m)

Determined to run in college, I trained over the summer with the goal of placing in the top three at the Texas State Cross Country meet. I realized that without a solid aerobic base to start from, all of the fast intervals in the world would mean nothing. Throughout the summer, my level of fitness improved tremendously. Everything was finally on track until the week before our first Cross Country meet. I was out for a normal morning run but before I made it to the end of my street, I felt an odd sharp pain in my left hip. Never having been injured before and thinking nothing of it, I pushed hard again later that afternoon and found that the pain was starting to get progressively worse. I ended up having to take six weeks completely off and when I started running again the State meet was only six weeks out. 

Southlake Carroll boys and girls on the podium
after sweeping the Regional meet
with Coach Ondrasek (center) 

I set off training over the next six weeks focusing on my distance runs trying to get back into shape. The District meet came around and I managed to place 3rd behind two of my teammates and help my team to a 1st place finish. Regionals came a week after, I ended up getting 7th overall and 3rd for my team, we took the team title and qualified for the State meet. A week later the State meet came around and there, after missing six weeks in the middle of the season I was able to place 2nd in State and lead my team to a 2nd place finish. 

Attaining my summer goal, sprinting to a second place
finish at the State meet. 

 After the race I was in shock, I didn't know what to think, I had just attained my summer goal... but how? I didn't do any hard track work or intervals like all the other runners I had beaten. I realized again, just as I had before; the importance of building a strong aerobic base is the key for distance runners, all the work I had done in the summer allowed me to come back even after my injury to place 2nd at the Texas 5A State Cross Country meet. Three weeks later our team went on to compete at Nike Team Nationals, where I managed to place 13th and lead my team to a 14th place finish.   

So, what is the take away message from all of this? Well, none of the above would have been possible if I didn't have Robert Ondrasek as my high school coach. When I started running I showed no talent whatsoever, I honestly believe that if I had gone to a high school with a cross country or track program that was being coached by someone who either didn't know anything about distance running or didn't care much for the sport itself(this happens often as cross country and track are the forgotten sports in high school. Especially in smaller schools it is common practice for coaches of other high profile sports i.e. football, baseball to coach XC and or Track on the side with little understanding of the sport) I would have stayed average and would never would have had the opportunity to realized my true talent. I certainly wouldn't be chasing my dreams today. What I am saying is; I was lucky to have had a high school coach like coach Ondrasek, because his emphasis on building a solid aerobic foundation and his basic understanding of the fundamentals of distance running were the key to my success and that of the very successful Southlake Carroll boys & girls Cross Country and Track programs. 

I learned in high school that having a great coach is priceless and with the right type training... anything is possible.