After claiming his second consecutive state championships in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters and adding the 800-meter championship this year to his resume to help lead the Judge Memorial Bulldogs to the 3A Track & Field State Championships, Patrick Smyth was recently named the 2005 Gatorade State Boys Track & Field Athlete of the Year.
"I was happy that they were even looking at me," Patrick Smyth said. "It's a pretty big honor to think that they thought I was the best."
"He earned it," Judge Memorial Catholic High head coach Dan Quinn said. "He stepped it up his senior year and accomplished his goals."
This award joins his other achievements over the past two years, including state cross-country champion and Cross Country Runner of the Year in 2004 and 2005 and this year's 3A Track & Field Athlete of the Year.
But Patrick was not always into distance running even though his sister, Kathleen, who runs for Boston College, excelled in running, taking state championships in the 400 meters three years and the 800 meters all four years. She holds state records in each event. He played basketball and baseball.
Similar to Kathleen, who also played soccer and basketball, he was challenged in his freshman year to try running distance on Quinn's team. He came to Quinn's camp and finished seventh to make the varsity team. Kathleen was challenged to run distance three years prior by Quinn after breaking her arm while playing basketball. The rest is history. He turned two athletes into Judge Memorial Catholic High School's top runners in school history.
"He (Quinn) saw it long before anybody else," father Dan Smyth said.
"I wish I could have more Smyths run for me," Quinn said.
As a family, the Smyths traveled with Patrick for races in North Carolina and New York and several trips to California, including the competition in Arcadia, where most of the nation's best distance runners compete. Smyth took fifth.
Smyth will attend the University of Notre Dame, where he looks to help the Irish claim their first national championship in cross country since 1957. He was first contacted by Notre Dame last summer and was invited later that fall to visit the campus and watch an Irish football game. After watching the workouts and a few talks with the coaches, Smyth decided on Notre Dame.
He also visited Georgetown, Boston College and was contacted by Oregon and Stanford. Notre Dame finished 11th in the nation and second in the Great Lake Region behind Wisconsin, the runner-up to Colorado at the National Championships.
The Irish only lost two seniors from last year's team, their seventh- and 13th-ranked runners on the varsity team.
"I hope to make varsity this year," Smyth said. " I think I can I do it."
Smyth's standard of excellence also extended into the classroom, where he recorded a 3.9 GPA and scored 1170 on the SAT. He is active in the campus ministry and has recorded 40 hours of community service.
E-mail: jlawrence@desnews.com