CHESAPEAKE, Va. — When it comes to hurdling, it’s all about the small details.
“It’s a lot of stretching. It’s a lot of speed work,” explained Western Branch track star Antonio Smith. “You’ve got to mainly focus on your lead leg and your trail leg.”
Luckily for Antonio Smith, he’s got a pretty good fellow Chesapeake native as an example.
“I look up to a lot of Olympians, but mainly Grant Holloway just because he’s a hurdler and I am too,” said Smith.
It might be a while until he joins Holloway as an Olympian but as of late, they do share the title of state champion. Smith recently took home the Class 6 title in the 55-meter hurdles while also placing in seven events to lead the Bruins to a team title.
“With hurdles that was my main event so I tried to win that of course, but at the end of the day it was all for points so we could win the state title,” he said. “Ever since my sophomore year I’ve wanted a ring and to lead a team to a championship and I’m just glad I got to do it my senior year. I’ll really cherish this.”
As one can imagine, running can be a tedious sport, and Smith agrees.
“Yes, I do get sick of running,” said Smith. “But I still do it.”
The immediate reward and gratification make it all worth it for the state champ.
“I love it when you work hard, and it shows off with a PR or something. You have a lot of people showing you love at the end of the race too so that’s what keeps me going with track.”
As it turns out, now, Smith is taking after Holloway as an example himself.
“He’s been a very important role model to a lot of the younger athletes here,” said head coach Yolanda Gaston- Golden. “I think that state meet said it all. Seven events are a lot for an athlete in one setting and he scored in every single event so that speaks for itself. I couldn’t say any more. He’s an outstanding athlete and very well deserving to be athlete of the week.”
