State champs x 2: Andrew Harding, Colten Smith take home individual track gold medals
Published 8:56 am Tuesday, May 27, 2025
(Northside High School photo)
Northside sophomore Colten Smith, left, and senior Andrew Harding were all smiles with coach Casey Schulte after they won their state championships last week. (Northside High School photo)
Colten Smith had a memorable reaction to winning the state title as he threw up his arms in celebration after crossing the finish line. (Northside High School photo)
Andrew Harding's two state medals (Jason O. Boyd | Washington Daily News)
Colten Smith's gold medal (Jason O. Boyd | Washington Daily News)
Andrew Harding and Colten Smith (Northside High School photos)
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YEATESVILLE, N.C. — Going into the high school track season, there was the anticipation that Northside High School could take home two state titles.
That is what happened, but not in the way that was originally thought.
Northside senior Andrew Harding completed a remarkable high school career by winning the Class 1A state title in the 3,200-meter run. He just missed out on winning the state title in the 1,600-meter run, falling short to his future UNC Charlotte teammate. It capped a career that included a state title in 1A cross country last fall.
The surprise of sorts came from sophomore Colten Smith. He won the state title in the 400-meter dash. It was a dramatic moment as he threw up his arms in celebration after winning the title. It capped a dramatic moment where he won the East Regional title in the same event.
In a way, it was a literal passing of the baton moment at last week’s state championship meet in Greensboro. Harding has left an incredible legacy through his running success, which Smith has now picked up.
“I don’t even know if I’ve processed our season yet,” Schulte said. “I have been extremely proud of not just these two. I’m very, very, very proud of these two.
“My reaction when Colten won was, I mean, hysterical. I mean, I was just pouring tears. And part of that, it comes from being a coach, telling them what to do or whatever. We have a lot of talks about what they are able to do and believing in themselves.
“And Andrew has taught me just so much this year and in the last year. And I’m telling you, the Andrew effect is going to, and I told (his mother) Tori this, it’s going to be going for a long time here at school. And I really think it’s going to have a positive impact on our program, cross-country track and everything moving forward.”
Smith still had a level of excitement and surprise in his voice when he described his winning run. The feeling was he had a chance to win a title, but it wasn’t until seeing was believing.
It also helped that one of the runners he beat was doing a lot of subtle trash-talking on social media leading up to the race.
“I knew he was … he had a feeling he was going to beat me, you know, me being a sophomore,” Smith said. “He didn’t think I had anything. Even at the start of the race, he said, you know, don’t feel bad if you lose, you know, you’re only a sophomore.
“I felt like, ‘Hey man, you’re about to be surprised.’ But no, I was really happy I beat him because even he replied to my Instagram story.”
The defining moment was the photo that was taken of Smith crossing the finish line, his arms raised in victory. It will be as much of a defining moment as the ones Harding created.
Smith took home first with a time of 48.02 seconds. He held off Langtree Charter Academy’s Braden McGee, who finished at 48.34 seconds, and Dylan Dahlberg of Mountain Heritage, who came in at 49.14 seconds.
“I was around fifth place (at the 300-meter mark),” Smith said. “And then once I got that last 100-meter, I really picked it up. And I was just inching closer and closer to Braden McGee when he was in first.
“And I want to say that around 10 meters from the finish line is where I started to create a gap. And I was like, ‘Oh man, I won.’ I kind of just did it (raised his arms) out of it. I don’t know why I did it. I just did it.”
And then there’s Harding. He’s done so much for the program and accomplished so much that it seems weird when he doesn’t win. He has such a presence about him that it seems like he’s just gliding on air when he runs. When he wins, it’s nowhere near the excitement of when others do it, maybe because it’s happened so often. When he’s done running … he’s running some more like he did with a Lejeune High School competitor at the East Regional.
So when he didn’t win the 1,600-meter race, it was kind of a surprise.
Harding won the 3,200-meter run in 9:35.93 to blister the field for the gold medal. Second-place runner Ogana Swimmer of Cherokee finished in 9:52.40. In the 1,600-meter run, Corvian Community School’s Carson Williams finished at 4:12.97 while Harding came in at 4:13.61 after leading most of the race.
“I can’t play into his tactics or he’ll outkick me at the end, which ended up happening anyway,” Harding said of Williams, his future college teammate. “So I just took the race out from the gun, just ran hot, tried to outrun him, and led 1,500 meters and then just got passed at the end. Race it 10 times, and I win half of them, he wins half of them. It just didn’t go my way.
Harding put that disappointment behind him pretty quickly and showed why he’s one of the country’s best runners in the 3,200-meter race. He had some competition early but eventually left the field in his dust.
“There was a guy who stayed behind me through like five laps, though,” Harding said. “He had me a little nervous for a little bit, but ended up making a gap and just kind of cruised in the last lap.”
Harding had a race this weekend and another in July. Both will also take part in the New Balance Outdoor Nationals on June 19-22 in Philadelphia, one of the most prestigious events in the country. Smith said while he hasn’t had as much success in cross country as he has had in track, he’ll be part of the team this fall that will look to continue the school’s success.
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