COLUMBUS – Elmwood’s Kyle Smithey improved his placing in every race at the state track and field meet.

The improvement led to an All-Ohio finish in the 300 low hurdles in Saturday’s Division III final.
“I’m really happy with sixth,” Smithey said. “I just dug down deep … I always have to make up ground
towards the end. I gave it everything I had today.”
A junior, Smithey came into the weekend with the 14th fastest time in the 16-runner field, running a
40.08 in the regional final.
In Friday’s preliminaries he ran a 39.76 to grab the ninth and final qualifying spot for the final.
In the final, Smithey finished strong, taking sixth in 39.92 to earn All-Ohio honors. Miles Dunlap of
McDonald, a senior, won the race in 38.42. Jack Lint of Gahanna Columbus Academy, a freshman, was fifth
in 39.66.
Running against the best in the state was motivation for Smithey.
“During the season, you have a lot of good runners, but it’s (nothing) compared to the state runners,” he
said.
After hitting the first two hurdles Saturday, Smithey said he had some chasing to do as the runner in
lane four (Dunlap) had already made up the stagger.
“I knew I had to push it harder,” he said.
Smithey drew the No. 9 lane for the final, which he said was better than being in No. 1.
“I like to chase a little bit and I knew it was either one or nine, so I’m glad I had the nine,” Smithey
said. “It’s more of a straightaway on the curves rather than the sharp curves, so that helped.”
Smithey said the sky is the limit for next year.
“Everybody wants to win, but I’m just looking for improvement,” Smithey said.