For Tony Smoragiewicz his greatest competition may come in the form of meeting his own expectations. (Photo Kevin Cox/IDS)

It’s hard to imagine that things could go any better than they already are for South Dakota’s reigning cross-country champion Tony Smoragiewicz. The Central High School junior blew away the field at the state cross-country championship in November. He followed it up with a 9^th place finish at the Nike National Cross Country championship in Portland and a 3^rd place finish two weeks later at the Foot Locker national championship in San Diego. He is among the elite high school runners in the nation. The top ten runners at Nike and Foot Locker were almost all seniors. Only Smoragiewicz and two others were juniors.

Expectations next year will be enormous, so Smoragiewicz might be forgiven for taking a long winter holiday to let it all sink in before confronting the challenges ahead. If anyone has earned a winter break it’s Tony. But that’s just not his style.

His finishes in Portland and San Diego earned Smoragiewicz an invitation to the Brooks Sports PR Challenge in Seattle on February 27. Only the best ten runners in each track event have been invited to Seattle. Brooks describes the event as a chance for the nation’s elite “…to run fast, break their own personal records, and compete against the best of he best.” The next day, back in Rapid City, track season begins.

Last Friday Smoragiewicz went to the Spearfish Indoor Invitational “…just to see what kind of running shape I was in.” He ran the 3,200 meter race on Black Hills State’s new indoor track. He was pressed by Dylan Morin from Sheridan, Wyoming, and glad for the pressure of competition. “Good competition improves my times. At the 800 mark in the race Dylan went out in front two or three meters. It surprised me. But I closed at the end.” Smoragiewicz won in a time of 9:26.44.

“How good is that?” I asked.

“It’s my best time indoor or outdoor. I was really pleased.” “If you had run 9:26.44 in the state championships last spring where would you have finished?”

He smiles across the slab of Colonial House BBQ ribs he’s poking at, and then answers. “First place…by three seconds.”

Not bad. Not bad at all…but not good enough.

In the past, Smoragiewicz has been reluctant to set goals for himself beyond an individual race. He has approached cross-country and track more as a personal passion than a set of competitive goals. In fact, there was a time in his life when band and orchestra were just as important as running. But slowly, as he began to win, he intensified his focus on running. He dropped orchestra in the 8^th grade, and quit band in the 10^th grade.

Now, for the first time in his young life, South Dakota’s top distance runner has set a hard-edged goal for himself. This spring he wants to break the nine-minute mark in the 3,200, and he wants to break the state record of 8:59.57, held by Stevens graduate Erik Grumstrup.

This is not a goal he comes to lightly. The more time he spent e-mailing new friends that he met at national competitions, the more it became clear that if he wants to be taken seriously as an elite, national, long distance runner, he has to get his 3,200 time below 9:00.

How does a high school junior, who is already the fastest runner in the state, suck thirty seconds out of a 5’8”, 138 pound body?

Smoragiewicz runs at the National Triathlon Championships last year.

That’s the question that brought Tony and me together over a plate of ribs and pasta at Colonial House on a stormy Sunday night.

“You have to start looking at the small things.” He told me. “Like diet, weights, core training. I’ve been working on my core at the Swim Center with weighted balls.”

“Why does a stronger core matter?”

“It creates better posture. Better posture leads to better technique and mechanics.”

I’ve watched Tony run…up close, only feet away from his graceful stride, and it’s hard to believe his posture could get any better. But I’ll give him 3 seconds for core training.

“What are your eating habits?” I ask.

“I eat whenever I want. I snack a lot. I just try to eat healthy. My mom feeds me lots of fruits and vegetables.”

There’s a not-so-hidden message here. There aren’t any magic foods that make an elite runner go faster, but there is a whole culture built around bad foods that can make a runner go slower. For a high performance athlete, the trick is to avoid processed foods drenched in sugar/fat/salt, more than it is to control how much you eat.

For high school athletes, cheap, processed, fast-foods are a ubiquitous temptation. Good food requires…well, it requires Mom (with all due respect to the few dad’s out there who rule the kitchen).

“Do you carbo load like other long distance runners?

“I will for big races. I’ll eat pasta.”

When all is said and done, Tony Smoragiewicz may have his greatest triumphs in the triathlon; the “combined” event that mixes running with swimming and bicycling. In March, Smoragiewicz will fly to Orlando, Florida to compete in the Junior National Triathlon Championships. Triathletes are training fanatics, right down to the smallest detail. He has been working on how to get his wetsuit off and his feet into the stirrups of a bike…while it is moving. He works on when to drink water, and how to improve his swim stroke. He works on where to swim in the pack.

Smoragiewicz competing at the National Triathlon Championships.

Most college track coaches don’t like cross-training for triathlons, but Smoragiewicz loves it. “I’m a runner first, but triathlon training develops different muscle groups. And when I am tired of running, or my legs are tired, I can switch to swimming or bicycling and keep training.” This is an advantage that Tony has over the top distance runners in South Dakota.

This spring, he will be coached by Pat Morarity, the assistant cross country coach at Central, who will take the helm as the head track coach for distance runners. As Tony continues to grow, expect his unique, relentless, triathlon training regime to push eight-ten seconds off his track time. There aren’t any great secrets to training, Tony suggests. “Just keep training over time, and the seconds will come off.”

Physical development is the great unknown. If Tony grew an inch or two…approached 5’11” and gained 10 pounds, he would benefit from the strength. But strength cuts both ways for an elite runner. He has to stay thin, and the strength that comes with 10 pounds also means he has to sprint through every race carrying extra pounds.

Add it all up, and Smoragiewicz is still ten or fifteen seconds short of his goal. How can he make up that much time?

I know it sounds ridiculous, but my bet is on the mental part of running. Tony Smoragiewicz runs with peace of mind. I have never met an athlete who performs at such a high level with such grace and inner peace. He doesn’t waste precious energy on distraction or panic. He always seems to know where he is in the pack, who is ahead or him, and when to make his move. He never seems impatient.

He has an intense sense of purpose, a kind of personal version of the competitive spirit. Rather than being threatened by competition, he was ecstatic when he found out that Dylan Morin would be running against him in Spearfish.

This mental strength may be the key to breaking the nine- minute barrier. Smoragiewicz has scheduled himself to run in the Arcadia Invitational Track meet in Southern California in April. The  meet is sponsored by USA Track. That’s where he believes he can break the nine minutes. That’s where he believes he can set a new South Dakota state record.

“Why Arcadia?” I ask.

“Competition. That’s where the best competition will be. Last year sixteen kids ran under nine minutes.” It is the most simple concept in sports. Great athletes need competition to do their best.

While we are finishing dinner, I ask Tony how he’s doing in school. He is a straight A student, but considering all the travel, all the competition of the last few months, I wonder if his grades might slip.

“My grades are okay.” He says. “But I’ve slipped to #2 in the class.”

“Do you know who is #1?” I ask, jokingly.

“Yes. I think I know.”

That’s Tony Smoragiewicz. He always knows where he is in the pack, and it’s usually at the front. Halfway through his junior year, he doesn’t seem worried about the student who is #1. Calm and patient, he seems to know that he will be there at the end.