"Coach [Richard] Martin’s a real nice guy, and they’re just starting their track program back up and I want to help get that going – that’s one big reason," Smith said. "My grandparents live in Conway, so I've got family there, too."

Smith has a part in two state records – his sophomore year he ran on 2-mile relay teams that set state records for class AAA in both indoor (8:21) and outdoor (8:09) at the state meet. Smith's Panthers have never finished worse than second as a team at the state meet.

Smith, who has a 3.4 GPA and is one of just two seniors on the track team this year, has been a valuable leader according to HSHS coach Dale Cresswell.

“He’s a good overall student, he makes good grades and he’s a good kid,” Cresswell said of Smith. “He’s not the kind where once you turn around he’ll start walking. He leads by example. He likes running so much – this year between cross country and track I finally told him to take a week off and I think in that week he ran anyway.”

UCA should also expect a signature in the near future from Conway High runner Raven Fuller, who has offers from Oklahoma and Oklahoma State but likes the advantages UCA offers.

"Most likely I'll go to UCA and stay close to home," he said. "And UCA's talking about more money. UCA is a good school and they'll be D-I, and really I just want to get my education because I know I'm not going to run after college."

Fuller also cited coach Richard Martin as part of UCA's appeal.

"He's come to a couple of my meets and he'll talk to you like he's one of your friends," Fuller said. "He's pretty cool."

Fuller runs cross country, the 2-mile relay, the 800m run, 1-mile and 2-mile run for the Wampus Cats. And, he also suits up for the basketball team.

"UCA's looking at me just to run," he said. "Hendrix and a couple other schools looking at me to do both, but that's fine because I don't think I could do both and still keep up with my schoolwork."
Fuller even gave golf a brief shot this year, but don't expect to see him helping out Ryke Dismuke's team at UCA.

"I tried to play golf some but I figured I wasn't any good," he said. "I wanted to play every sport my senior year so I tried it, I tried it and I like it I'm just not good at it."

Fuller came in fifth overall and was the top finisher from Arkansas at the Oklahoma/Arkansas All-Star meet during the 2005 cross country season. He has been all-state in cross country since his freshman year and in track since he was a sophomore.