By RAY WILDE

Sports correspondent

LEWISTOWN — With Carter Smith winning his sixth state championship on Sunday, the Mifflin County senior runner has gone from an extraordinary athlete to a historic figure.

On Sunday in State College, Carter won his third indoor 800 state title at the Pennsylvania Track and Field Coaches Association Indoor State Championship meet.

Smith has now won three indoor state titles to go along with a cross country title and two outdoor state titles. No other individual in the history of Mifflin County High School sports has won so many state championships. Smith set a meet record with a time of 1:50.25 for the 800.

In fact, only two high schools in the history of the county have had more state titles than Carter. Chief Logan finished with seven (four wrestling, one cross country, girls; two track and field, a male high jumper and female middle distance). The current high school has produced seven state title winners (not counting Smith), four in wrestling, three in track and field, two female javelin titles and one male javelin.

Lewistown produced six state champions (one wrestling, baseball, two girls basketball and two track and field, male middle distance and a female hurdler). Indian Valley had five all in track and field, one male hurdler, four javelin throwers, two male and two female.

Rothrock had one, boys basketball and Penn Highlands had one individual in wrestling. Kishacoquillas had no state champions.

Smith competed in three individual races this indoor season for Mifflin County and won all

of them. In those three races, he beat 104 other runners. Since the start of his junior year (September 2024), Carter now has gone up against 3,651 runners and has beaten 3,647 of them. He has only lost to four runners by a total of 18 seconds.

The Mifflin County Sports Hall of Fame should take Smith into it as soon as he graduates from high school. Even better, the road up to the high school should be renamed ‘Carter Way’.

LIVING IN CARTER’S SHADOW

On any other team in any other year, Mifflin County’s other distance runners would be the main story. Wyatt Kauffman, a junior, was seventh in the 800 with a time of 1:56.28.

Only one other underclassman was ahead of Kauffman.

Reese Cubbison, a senior, was fourth in the 3000-meter run with a time of 8:26.35.

Smith, Cubbison and Kauffman along with Connor Lynch combined for a 10:31.26 in the distance-medley relay for a fourth-place finish.