TV20 Meldon Law Scholar Athlete: Riley Smith (Buchholz)

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) - Buchholz’s Riley Smith always knew he was destined for greatness. But it wasn’t until he traded his soccer cleats for track spikes that his dreams became reality.

“I a soccer player my whole life up until, freshman year. I started I had a couple friends on the track team, and I was starting to get a little tired of soccer. I could feel that I wasn’t putting everything into soccer,” explained Smith. “And if I’m playing a sport, I want to be putting everything in to be the best. then that track season I started running and I fell in love with it.”

With each stride, Smiths passion for running grew more and more.

“My freshman year, I went my first race was in the 4.50′s, and then I just keep kept PRing until I got down to 4.27 at the state meet and I kind of realized that, you know, if I keep putting in work and listen to my coaches, then I can keep progressing,” said Smith.

Whether it’s the mile or the 800M Smiths training regimen is relentless. From tempo runs to speed work he leaves no stone unturned to reach excellence.

" I run the two mile, the mile, the 800, more of a focus on the mile and a little bit of the 32,” exclaimed Smith. “It’s a lot of a lot of tempoish, it’s about 60 seconds slower than your all-out mile pace. You just try to run that for extended efforts to get your aerobic system working better. But similar endurance work outs and stuff they all kind of help. There are more distance-based events, like the mile and the 32.”

From state championships to new records, Smith is rewriting the history books one stride at a time. Smith has placed first the Nike Indoor Championships, the Milrose Championship, FSU Relays, UF Pepsi Relays and so much more.

“It’s up there with the best feelings in my life, really, every single time I win or PR. That’s part of what draws me to keep trying to get better every single day. It adds every single time I win a race, or PR it adds to my confidence,” said Smith.

All the hard work is paying off, Smith signed to the University of Florida, where he has big goals for his future.

“Goals in college are to win some NCAA championships with my team and myself. I want to, bring some of the distance light back to Florida,” said Smith.

While Smith is a star on the track, he also sets the pace in the classroom, he has a 4.4 GPA and plans to pursue a career in sports medicine.

“I want to stay somewhere in sports when I’m grown, but I’d want to do something more like, what to do with the body, anatomy, some sort of health profession.”

Riley Smith Our Meldon Law TV20 Scholar Athlete of the Week.

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