Farmingdale teen Patrick Smyth wins 10K race

Patrick Smyth, Farmingdale.

For many high school runners, Sundays are for resting. Some do light runs around their neighborhood – sometimes referred to as an On Your Own (or OYO) workout – but, mainly, Sundays are filled with homework and mentally gearing up for the next week of races.

That is, unless you're Farmingdale’s Patrick Smyth. Smyth,18, a senior and member of the outdoor track and field team at Farmingdale High School won the 10-kilometer race at the Long Island Marathon in 33 minutes, 50.4 seconds Sunday morning.

“After the [St. Anthony’s Invitational] yesterday, we don’t have another meet until next Monday,” Smyth said. “I thought I might as well get out and get a little endurance on me to get ready for the steeplechase and 3,200 meters [in the high school post-season].”

Smyth wasted no time, either.

“I went out hard in the first 5K,” Smyth said of Sunday’s win. “I think I was around 15:55-ish for the first 5K. Then, [second place Jeremy Mulvey] started catching up and I thought ‘OK, I’ll let him take the lead for a little bit, I’ll stick on his shoulder and we’ll work together and finish it.”

Smyth’s race-heavy work ethic gave him no rewards when it came to the weather. Runners were greeted to a soaking wet course as rain pounded Long Island all morning.

“It was pretty brutal out there,” Smyth said. “It wasn’t too windy, which was good. But it was rainy and there were puddles everywhere. My shoes are waterlocked. It felt like I ran a [steeplechase].”

But, as a veteran of high school track and field – a sport that rarely cancels for bad weather – Smyth wasn’t fazed by the rain.

“Last year, I did the [steeplechase] at the North Shore Invitational,” Smyth said. “Conditions were worse than this. I’m kind of used to it at this point.”  

The victory came after Smyth ran a 10:11.69 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the St. Anthony’s Invitational Saturday at St. Anthony’s High School – believed by many to be the best regular season outdoor meet on Long Island.