Mia Smith of Menlo Park wins Tom Moore Youth Classic 3000 meters

On Saturday morning, May 24, Mia Smith (14) joined the 3000 meters starting line against the 15-16’s high schoolers at the Tom Moore Youth Classic United States Track and Field (USATF) track meet in Modesto.

While there was a lot of traffic at the beginning of the race and a number of girls went out fast early, Mia patiently ran a strategic race focused on pace. She kept a distant eye on the lead group who at the halfway point held a 30 meter lead in the race, but made her move with 800 meters to go reeling in and passing the lead group.

She then fended off three runners in an all out sprint to the finish in the final 100 meters to win by less than a second.

Mia is a member of  Run Club Menlo Park. Besides “Have Fun!”, Run Club’s other main motto is, “The Second Half of the Race is OUR Half of the Race!”