INDIANAPOLIS, IN. - It's not exactly what he thought would happen, but LaVille Senior Owen Smith is looking at the big picture. Smith, a strong, athletic young man, has natural speed. We've seen him pull away from defenders on the football field. We've watched him jet to the rim on the basketball floor. He is really a 100m and 200m-dash man. Friday, Smith will be running in the Indiana High School State Track and Field meet in the 300m hurdles. The event will be held at Robert C. Haugh Track and Field Complex, Indiana University, Bloomington. Smith is scheduled to run at approximately 7:20 p.m. He will be in the first of three nine-runner sections after a school-record seed time of 40.18 from the IHSAA Warsaw Regional. "I think it was pretty sloppy compared to my other races," Smith said when asked about how he felt he ran his regional race. "I wasn't too happy with how it went. I was just happy to get across the line and place so I could go to state." He finished third in the Warsaw Regional, just behind South Bend Saint Joseph and Northridge, but still qualified him for the state meet. "It's huge," Smith said when asked about going to Bloomington. "I've always wanted to go to state. I never thought it would be in the 300m hurdles. I thought it would be more in the 100m or 200m dash. I didn't feel like I was going to get much better in those events, so I tried something new. I tried the 300m hurdles and so far it's worked out great." With the weather feeling more like August than late May and early June, conditioning and fine tuning some things have been on Smith's practice agenda this week. "It was definitely a good opportunity to see what I need to work on.," Smith said following his regional race. "My first hurdle was definitely better than the rest of them. I definitely need to work on my spacing and attack it better. I'm not really a hurdler, I'm a sprinter. I don't really have too much of a plan, I go as fast as I can and hope I can get over them pretty well. "A lot of it is conditioning," Smith continued. "I don't want to get on that straight away and I got no gas and I don't feel like I can push myself. If I have really good conditioning and keep going, that's the first step. And the second step is form and try to make sure that I attack each hurdle smoothly. If I stutter on every single hurdle it is going to slow me down. And a lot of it is going to come to the straightaway I think. I feel like I have a lot of energy for the first 150, 150 to 200 is getting ready for the kick and the final 100 is the kick to the finish. So conditioning is the biggest thing this week." At this point, Smith continues to improve and in the last two races, he has lowered the LaVille school record in the 300m hurdles. "The nice thing about this race is it is a one and done," said Smith, referring to three sections of nine runners, competing against the clock. "I can go out and give it all I've got and don't have to worry about pacing myself and preserving energy for another race. This will be my last race win or lose. In regionals, it wasn't my best race, but I still improved. It's definitely going to be an interesting experience. The section I am in is the slowest out of the three. I think if I can pace myself, but not pace the other guys, just something faster I can hopefully do well." Drew Willman of Carmel has the fastest time in Smith's section at 39.95.The overall top seed in the 300m hurdles goes to Tyler Tarter of Fishers in 37.49. "This Friday it's going to come to how can I balance out little mistakes," explained Smith. "I need to land right. I need to make sure I don't stutter and most importantly I need to make sure that I get over each hurdle pretty clean. The last thing I need is to hit a hurdle on the straightaway and then I can't catch up. A lot of technicalities in practice. I need to figure out what one I struggle with and which ones I am good at.I don't have set steps. Figuring out how to pace myself and get in a good position no matter where I jump from makes me comfortable at it." As we concluded our interview, Smith is trying to keep things in perspective. "I'm treating it like a big meet," said Smith. "Not the state meet. I think I have the capability to place. It is certainly going to be tough, but I certainly think I can compete. I don't want to run this last race knowing that I could have given more. "I think low 39s would be awesome," continued the LaVille senior. "That would be competing. I want to improve. That would be pretty cool.It is an honor to be running at the state meet. Especially since it is the last race. It's something I've always wanted to do. It's just awesome. I'd be really happy in this meet knowing that I did the best I could. I'm pretty excited."