What Makes Max Schmidt Run? The Racing Part

Max Schmidt began running at age seven, but it wasn’t until middle school that he discovered why.

“Racing is the only part I really, really like,” he said.

The University High senior cross country runner has done that really, really well. In competitions this year he has been beaten just once.

His time two weekends ago at the Yakima Sunfair rivaled the year-old time of Stanford freshman Adam Tenforde, then the premier distance runner in Washington while at Hanford High in Richland.

Schmidt said he started running, along with his older brother Nick, “kind of by force,” at the behest of his father, Gene, who had been a runner at the University of Wisconsin.

The years of training finally made sense in his first team race as a seventh grader in Coeur d’alene.

“I actually started to like it when I started to compete,” said Schmidt. “That’s really my favorite part of cross country.”

But he does understand that while he merely tolerates the miles of training, it has been the reason his times dropped dramatically over the last two years as a Titan.

They went from the low 17 minutes for three miles as a sophomore at Lake City High to the mid 15s last year at University.

“That was probably the biggest shock to me,” he said. “I didn’t know I could make that much of a jump.”

Schmidt was born and reared in Coeur d’Alene except for two years in Chile and Peru as a grade schooler where his father worked as a geologist.

“I got some high altitude training way up in the Andes,” said Schmidt.

Last year, two weeks before school started, the family decided to move from Coeur d’Alene to the Valley - in part because Nick became a student at the University of Washington and for Spokane’s running environment.

The sudden change in schools was a difficult transition for Max, but he made the Titan varsity in cross country and became U-Hi’s third finisher for the second-year state champions by placing ninth overall.

“I wasn’t sure how well I’d do,” he said. “I thought I’d be lucky to get on varsity. I figured I’d improve some, but didn’t know how much.”

With a year in the program, and 4:20 mile credentials in spring, Schmidt has become one of the top runners in Spokane and the state.

His only loss this year came to Shadle Park junior Michael Kiter. Kiter forced the pace as is his style. Schmidt went with him, a tactic that backfired. The Titan faded in the final mile.

“He always takes off like a banshee in the first mile,” said Schmidt. “I played his game and paid the price.”

Lesson learned, he defeated Kiter in a torrid 15:10 time in Yakima.

While that might make Schmidt the logical favorite to win state this year, he’s hesitant to make any claims. He is just one of five title hopefuls from Spokane alone. He’s seen how injury, like the one to teammate Ryan Lancaster, can alter plans.

“I don’t think it was a given that this was going to happen,” said Schmidt of his success. “I have the same philosophy as last year. Just go out and see what you can do.”

The Titans and Schmidt will begin to find out their future on Oct. 30 with the regional race at Hangman Valley Golf Course. State, in Pasco, is a week later.

Meanwhile, Schmidt continues to train for his future, which could mean following Gene to the University of Wisconsin, and compete for fun.