The trend of young athletes contributing to varsity sports has been very apparent this school year. For example, Ella Cherry, Chase Plummer, Alex McCartney, and so many other freshmen and sophomores have already made giant impacts for their respective teams.
This trend isn’t going anywhere next year because in the middle school at Bellwood-Antis there are amazing athletes getting ready to transition into high school and varsity sports next year.
One junior high athlete in particular appears to be extremely ready.
For this reason, Miles Smearman is this week’s BluePrint Athlete of the Week.
Miles is a standout soccer, football, basketball, and track star for B-A’s junior high sporting teams. On the football field he gets his reps in at running back, and in basketball he spends his time in the backcourt as a guard.
However, where Miles really stands out is on the track. Miles runs the 100 meter dash, 200 meter dash, and the 400 meter dash. In those events he has the respective personal records of, 11.85 in the 100, 23.9 in the 200 and 56.7 in the 400.
These times are not only good for junior high, but they would be in the top two for the Blue Devils varsity track team as well. With that being said, it is no wonder that Miles has earned his way into a national track meet for his performance in the 200 meter dash.
“Miles has had a great year in junior high track,” said varsity coach Nike Lovrich. “We are very excited to see what he can do this weekend at the middle school championship meet and at nationals this summer. I think he will be a good addition to the varsity team next year after two very good years in the junior high program.”
On Wednesday in a meet against Tyrone, Miles went 2-for-2 in individual events and helped power the 4×100 relay team to a win. He will be competing this weekend at Mansion Park in Altoona at middle school districts.
Miles acknowledges his dad for his athletic success, saying, “He takes me to almost all of my practices and motivates me to be better. I wouldn’t be able to do it without him.”
Miles would also add that he looks up to his older brother, B-A sophomore Ned Smearman, because Ned shows him what it’s like to be a good athlete and human.
Miles knows that coming up into high school will be a new challenge. He prepares to stay on the top of his game by not taking any days off and remaining active. He plans on continuing his track, football and soccer career. However, he is still undecided about his future in basketball.
After high school, Miles plans on going to college to become a physical therapist.
