by C. Ruth Ebrahim, Staff Writer

At nine years old, a young Caroline athlete goes where no Caroline child has gone before.

Heading for the National Hershey Track and Field meet in Hershey, PA on Thursday, Aug. 5, Rory Smith, Jr. practices his event at least five days a week.

His father, Rory Smith, Sr., measures the length of his son's standing long jump while they practice at Caroline High School. Young Rory first competed in the event at Caroline's Hershey Track and Field event in May.

There, he jumped 6'10", which ended up being his best jump to date, and it took him onto the district meet in Colonial Heights.

About 20 athletes from Caroline advanced to the district meet, but only the first and second place finishers would go on to the state meet in Charlottesville.

Rory, Jr. finished in first place with a jump of 6'8". He and six Caroline athletes made the trip to Charlottesville, where they competed with athletes from around Virginia.

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