A complete comeback

When he crossed the finish line of the Class 6A 3,200-meter indoor state final on Feb. 5, Homewood distance standout Andy Smith sent a message to his competition.

After enduring a turbulent senior cross-country season marked by a series of nagging ailments, he had completed his comeback. 

Posting an indoor personal-record time of 9 minutes, 46.93 seconds, Smith bested Scottsboro’s Colton Smith to clinch the eighth individual state title of his decorated prep career. 

 “That was pretty big for me,” Smith said. “When I finished the race, a lot of coaches from other teams and guys from other teams came up to me and were like, ‘He’s back!’”

For Smith, a relentless worker and driven competitor, his return to the top could not have come sooner. Aiming to eclipse the lofty goals he set for himself prior to the start of his senior campaign, Smith will attempt to make up for lost time this outdoor track season. 

“I expect him to be, if not state champion, he’s going to be in the hunt in all three of the distance races — the 800, the mile and the 3,200,” Homewood assistant track and field coach Lars Porter said. “And if I were his competitor, I think I’d be a little bit nervous. He’s not the kind of guy that I would like to race week in and week out because he’s talented, he’s focused and he’ll beat you if he can.”

His competition knows that all too well.

Before his most recent triumph, Smith had already racked up seven individual state titles in the course of only two years. During his outlandish 10th-grade and 11th-grade seasons, he notched three gold-medal finishes indoor, three outdoor and one in cross-country. 

But to only mention Smith’s individual accomplishments does him a disservice. 

A key contributor on three state champion relay teams, he has played a key role in helping the Patriot boys secure eight team state championships in cross-country and track. 

“Andy is truly one of the greatest competitors I have ever been around in my life, and he is definitely the most accomplished distance runner we have ever had come through our program,” Homewood head track and field coach Tom Esslinger said. “We are so thankful we have had him in our program, and we could not have won our recent championships without him.”

In the fall, that statement was nearly put to the test.

Having won three straight cross-country state championships, the Patriot boys’ bid for a four-peat came into serious question upon Smith’s wavering health. 

Hampered from late July to mid-December with a lingering case of plantar fasciitis-turned-shin splints, Smith was frustratingly limited in training. After being sidelined from running for almost the entire month of August, he alternated between running and cross-training on a biweekly basis throughout the season. 

“While I know it’s been frustrating for him, he’s done it very well,” Porter said. “We’ve been in a conversation nonstop as opposed to him trying to hide things or downplay what’s going on with his legs.”

Frequently confined to the lap pool or spin bike, Smith relied heavily on swimming and cycling to preserve his well-developed aerobic base. 

His persistence paid off when it mattered most. 

Calling upon his rigorous cross-training and sparse 10-minute runs, Smith delivered a clutch fifth-place finish at November’s 6A state meet to help vault the Patriots to a team title.

“I think we all knew in order to win state I had to run, because, I mean, our sixth guy was good, but we weren’t sure if it was going to be enough to beat Opelika,” Smith said.

Spurred on by top-10 performances from Smith, Hunter Poole, Will Stone and Sean Conboy, the Patriot boys cruised past their rival by a healthy 28-point margin. 

For Smith and the Class of 2016, it solidified their place in Homewood history. 

“They’ve set a culture,” Porter said. They expect hard work from themselves. There are no questions about shortcuts. They just do what they are supposed to do.”

But there’s still more to accomplish. 

An Auburn commitment, Smith is ready to stamp the final chapter of his prep career before heading to the Plains this fall. 

Back at full health and aspiring to throw down “some pretty nasty times” on the oval, Smith has returned to what Porter labels his bread and butter: consistency.

“I go home every day and I roll and I ice and I do abs and I try to go bed early. You know, little stuff that might not even matter, but I think it matters,” Smith said. “But that, I would say, is what’s helped me, because a lot of little things equal a big thing.”