In Mike Smith’s ideal world, he would run 200 miles every week. In reality, Georgetown men’s cross-country Head Coach Patrick Henner would make him take a day off.
“If [Henner] didn’t pull the reins I would run myself into oblivion,” said the senior All American. “It’s hard to have someone tell you that you have to back off, but he wants me to run well as much as I want to, so I have to trust him.”
Smith’s relationship with Henner has defined his collegiate cross country career, which ended Nov. 25 with a 45th-place finish at the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind. Henner was the Head Coach at James Madison University when he recruited Smith out of Wachusett High School in in Holden, Mass.
“He didn’t blow smoke,” Smith said. “He told me that he wanted me to come but that the team didn’t need me. There was something about that honesty. When he told me he could make me good I believed him.”
Smith had a stellar first year at JMU and made the U.S. Junior Pan Am cross country team. Then he got a phone call from Henner, saying he was going to coach at Georgetown.
“I started to cry. I was so mad at him,” Smith recalled. But how could I not be happy for someone who had done so much for me? As soon as he said it, I knew I would go with him.”
In the fall of 2000, he started his junior year at Georgetown. Smith was the Hoyas’ third finisher at the NCAA Championships that year, helping the team to tie for 7th place. But Smith struggled last year, entering the cross country season sick and low on confidence. “It was the closest I ever came to wanting to stop,” he said. “That’s why the success this year has been so rewarding.”
Prior to the NCAA Championships, Smith was Georgetown’s second finisher at both the Pre-NCAA meet in Terre Haute and the Big East Championships in Boston. On Nov. 16, Smith won the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional meet in Davis, W.Va., where the Hoyas took second place.
“Of all my races this season, Regionals is where I felt most under control and most showed what I can do,” Smith said.
Smith was also Georgetown’s top finisher at the NCAA’s, but the rest of the team struggled, limping to an 18th place finish. Sophomore Rod Koborsi finished second for the team, almost 30 second back from Smith at 98th. First-year Fleet Hower and senior Javon Broderick came in 108th and 110th respectively. First-year Chris Lukezic rounded out the scoring at 211th, 44 seconds behind Broderick.
“Not enough runners got into the right position,” Henner said. “It was a domino effect. When you’re expecting a team mate to be in front of you and they’re not, it throws off your race as well.”
For Smith, the team’s inability to follow through on their race strategy left him in an unfamiliar position.
“I didn’t see or hear anyone from my team the whole time,” said Smith. “I was running in the mid-20’s, and with two miles to go they pulled away. I played it more conservatively because I could feel that something wasn’t right.”
Smith’s individual performance was good enough, however, to earn him All-American honors.
“Neither of us were ecstatic with the race, but I was very happy that [Smith] made All-American,” said Henner. “He’s worked extremely hard for it.”
Smith’s work ethic has been both his strongest asset and, at times, his Achilles heel.
“Mike has always been a very positive force on our team because he’s very motivated and very intense in his training,” Henner said. “But to improve he needs to give more credence to his natural ability and talent. At times he’s overworked himself.”
Though Smith’s cross country career at Georgetown is now over, he will compete in indoor and outdoor track in the spring. After he graduates in May, he plans to keep training.
“I don’t feel like I’ve trained as hard as I can. I want to press my body as far as it can go,” he said.
Smith says he hopes to compete in the U.S. trials for the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
“I know I’m not at that caliber yet, but do I think I’m incapable of it? Hell no,” Smith said. “I don’t think God or the sport has made a level I can’t be a part of. I believe in what I’m doing.”
