Ten-year-old Keegan Smith, a fifth-grader at Sacred Heart Cathedral School much honored already in his running career, captured a gold medal July 31 in the 3,000-meter run for 11-year-olds at the AAU Junior Olympic Games in Detroit.
Keegan ran a sub-10-minute time of 9:59.36 to win by a margin of more than 32 seconds against a field of 47 other runners. He missed the national record of 9:55.22, which has stood since 2003, by a little more than 4 seconds.
In the 1,500 run at the Junior Olympics on Aug. 3, Keegan set a personal-best time of 4:51.96 and earned a sixth-place medal. He was competing against a field of 78 runners. The winning time was 4:47.36.
In the 800 run Aug. 2, Keegan placed 28th with a time of 2:32.53 in a field of 82 runners.
Keegan represented Knoxville Youth Athletics at the Junior Olympics.
Earlier this year, Keegan won two national titles, in the 1,500 and 3,000 runs, at the AAU Indoor National Track Championships in Michigan. He also placed third in the 800 run at the same event.
