‘I just really like to compete’: Gonzaga senior Wil Smith ready to assert himself as one of the best distance runners in Spokane history

If the average college senior is determined to rev it up that last semester – whether that’s measured by GPA or ABV – Wil Smith has been decidedly more judicious.

He took his last test in March. He spent six weeks in the rare air of Arizona while teammates trudged to class. He’s stepped on the track competitively just twice in his final spring at Gonzaga.

And yet it’s hardly a case of senioritis.

As with just about everything Smith tackles, there is a strategy, along with the necessary discipline to apply it. It will carry him into the NCAA West First Round beginning Wednesday in College Station, Texas, with spots at nationals at stake – and for Smith, a chance to wear the Gonzaga singlet one more time. Those opportunities – including a strong run in the Olympic Trials last summer – have been treasured, and in the process have put him among the best distance runners in Spokane history.

“Coming out of high school,” said Smith, a state cross country champion at Lewis and Clark, “I knew I was a good athlete, but I don’t think I asserted myself as one of the better Spokane runners until I came to Gonzaga.”

He certainly has since.

Smith is the fastest miler (3 minutes, 58.81 seconds) in Spokane history as well as at 10,000 meters (27:53.19). The accompanying chart, based on the World Athletics scoring tables, offers a suggestion where Smith ranks among Spokane runners from Gerry Lindgren 60 years ago to today.

Of course, times hardly reveal all. Lindgren set American records, beat the Russians in Cold War showdowns and went to the Olympics. Rick Riley ran down Lindgren and Steve Prefontaine while coming in second to Frank Shorter in a national championship race – those three names a generational Mt. Rushmore in American running. Advancement in footwear – especially the past decade – and track surfaces have skewed the sport’s timeline.

Still, the stopwatch is a relevant arbiter.

“However you measure it, Wil is one of the top five distance runners in Spokane history,” said Gonzaga coach Pat Tyson, who can draw on nearly 40 years of perspective going back to his building of a high school dynasty at Mead. “He’s the only runner to break four minutes on Spokane soil and who qualified for the NCAAs in cross country five times. And without Wil, what we’ve been able to accomplish as a program doesn’t happen.”

Smith will again run the 5,000/10,000 double at regionals, a combination that provided both heartbreak and redemption a year ago. One of the favorites in the longer race, he struggled in the Arkansas heat and faded over the last 2,000 meters to 21st. But a day later in the 5,000, as just the 37th entrant by time on the qualifying list, he surged to third in his heat to lock down a trip to nationals, where he became an All-American.

If such a double seems like a large, even risky, bite of the apple, Smith is hardly alone in taking it – 17 other runners are trying it, too. His best event, the 10K, is run first, so he’s not putting himself at a disadvantage. And then there’s this:

“I just really like to compete,” he said.

But in the interest of competing at his best, he made some adjustments to his schedule this spring. Right after the end of the indoor season, Smith adjourned to Arizona to train for six weeks at Flagstaff’s 7,000-foot altitude.

“I was able to fill all my class requirements in the fall,” he said, “and there’s an NCAA rule that you don’t have to be a full-time student the last semester before graduation. So I saved one exam I had to take, so that technically I was still working toward my degree.”

So he checked himself into an Airbnb room in Flagstaff, got on Instagram and rustled up some running companions. Canadian steeplechase Olympian John Gay and former Boise State runner Ahmed Muhamed were especially helpful, but Flagstaff’s large, elite running community was not hard to crack.

“Once you found the right spots to run, it was pretty easy to get connected with good people,” he said.

Barely a week after coming back to Spokane, he lopped 11 seconds off his 10,000 best at Stanford, then returned three weeks later to do the same in a 5,000 race that started out too slow for its purpose.

“That really showed his growth,” Tyson said. “The pace faltered and he took the lead and pushed it for a good mile or so. If he hadn’t, a lot of guys may not have got their (NCAA) qualifying marks. But how many guys would have known to do that and not be afraid of it?”

And that, before the calendar turned to May, was the last of Smith’s spring racing until this week. Without competition, there would be bigger training blocks to gain more fitness, harder workouts, higher mileage – and more preparation for the tactical races of May and June.

“When I came here, I wasn’t as confident in championship-style races,” Smith said. “I thought I knew a lot about running as a senior in high school, but I’ve been surprised at how much I’ve learned and changed, and about not putting myself in a box as to what my strengths are.

“When I left high school, I was looking forward to never have to race anything under 5K again. Then I ended up running miles and 3Ks every indoor season and having fun with that.”

A good part of the fun was having that growth happen in his hometown. He appreciates running’s history here and the challenge of carrying on a tradition.

“It’s not an accident that there’s been a lot of success in Spokane with distance runners,” he said.

“I could have gone to a lot of other schools and even if I’d had the same success or more, I wouldn’t have felt the same support from people outside the team as I did here. Getting noticed and having people excited for you, that’s really encouraging.”

Leaving it behind when he turns professional will be an adjustment. But as with everything else, Smith will have a strategy for that, too.