What's better than working out and wrestling in one Olympic training center?

Working out and wrestling in two, even if the second camp is capped by a one-mile uphill run and four-mile downhill run to and from Pikes Peak.

Caleb Smith, soon to start his Princeton Community senior year, and a winner of 101 wrestling matches his first three high school seasons, experienced both within a four-week span in June and July.

The 17-year-old Smith, who ranks fourth academically in Princeton's senior class with a 3.987 grade-point average, drilled and wrestled June 16-19 in the United States Olympic Education Center by Northern Michigan University in Marquette, a half-mile from Lake Superior.

Then the son of Jeff and Karen Smith drilled and wrestled July 5-12 in the United States Olympic Committee Training Center in Colorado Springs.

"A great experience. I want to go back," Smith said Tuesday from his family home north of Princeton.

"I learned so much. At the USA Wrestling Cadet Nationals in Fargo (N.D.) in late-July, I could tell that the things I learned in Marquette and Colorado Springs have made me a better wrestler.

"In Colorado Springs they had nutrition and mental workshops, at which we took notes while listening to specialized speakers.

"They advised us on what to eat after weigh-ins - take things in slowly, don't stuff yourself, and eat light carbohydrates."

The final day, the grand finale, in Colorado Springs was the running trip to and from Pikes Peak.

"About 60 of us did those runs," Smith said.

"We ran up the Cog Trail, old railroad tracks that still have trains. You go up at a 68-degree angle.

"You've just got to be mentally tough. I told myself, 'I won't quit.' You can stop to rest along the way, but you feel a little more pride if you don't stop. So I didn't.

"When you get to the top, your legs are jello-y, kind of flimsy. You have to shake them out about 15 minutes before you start down."

Smith said he finished the uphill climb in 34 minutes. "The fastest time was 27 minutes," he said. "Probably 40 or 50 guys were behind me."

Passing the time before starting down was a pleasure, and not only because it provided a breather. "You can see a long way nd it's really pretty," Smith said.

"Going down, we ran the Bar Trail. It's more weavy, like a mountain road. You have to chop your steps and put on the brakes from time to time.

"The trip down probably took me 35 minutes. I felt pretty good afterward."

The Marquette camp was Greco-Roman wrestling, an upper-body style in which you can't attack legs.

"My chance to go there came through Ivan Ivanov, the USOEC's former head coach. He was coach at Northern Michigan until he resigned a couple weeks ago," Smith said.

"I met him a few years ago when he came here to put on a camp, and emailed him with a question last summer. We kept trading emails. He asked if I planned to go up there and train with his team for a week."

Smith met Jesse Thielke, a Wisconsin resident now wrestling for the USA Junior Team in the World Championships in Turkey.

"And Spencer Mango, a 2008 Olympic Games wrestler from Missouri. Plus Aaron Briggs from Arizona.

"I didn't wrestle any full matches up there, but I did a couple 'shark tanks.' You wrestle against four different guys, a minute or two against each guy, with five seconds before the next guy jumps in to wrestle you.

"I didn't score, but they point out mistakes. Ivan Ivanov said that when I do an arm drag, don't pull the guy to you. You go to him."

Smith's invitation to Colorado Springs came through his friendship with Blue Springs, Mo., high school coach Mike Hagerty, whom he met three summers ago through a Ken Chertow camp near Blue Springs.

"Dad and have gone to tourney's at Mike Hagerty's school. He coaches at the Olympic Center in Colorado Springs and was there again. So were Ivan Ivanov and Gary Mayaab from Staley High School near Kansas City.

"And Steve Fraser, the 1984 Olympic gold medalist at 185 pounds."

The Colorado Springs camp featured "mostly technique, and we did shark tanks a couple times.

"I was in there with Nick Bohn, a Grand Rapids, Mich., guy who has become my friend through seeing him at tournaments. A Colorado kid and Florida kid were in there, too. We all pretty well beat up on each other."

The second camp focused on Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling, both different from folkstyle, which is the high school and college style.

Applying what he learned, Smith won four of six Greco-Roman matches at 145 pounds in Fargo, both losses by 1-0. He came within one win, one takedown, of Cadet All-America honor, four years after he won Schoolboy All-America honor.

Moving to 152 pounds, he lost two freestyle matches in Fargo.

Returning home, Smith began "two months of heavy lifting," to be followed by his trip to Phoenix for the Oct. 24-25 Sunkist Kids International Open. It'll mark his first international tourney, and he'll wrestle at 145.

"Kids from Russia, Bulgaria, Cuba and Japan will be there," said Jeff Smith, former Princeton Wrestling Club president.

His summer experience cemented Caleb Smith's college plans.

"I plan to attend Northern Michigan because I want to go straight into Greco-Roman wrestling and I can do that there.

"Greco-Roman is my favorite, and maybe wrestling it at Northern Michigan will help me achieve my goal:

"Wrestling in the Olympics in 2016," said Smith, aware that Chicago is among the bidders for those Summer Games.