It isn't easy for Michael Nemeth to find a training partner, but that hasn't stopped him from becoming the best in the country at what he does for his age group.

Nemeth, a 16-year-old Thornburg resident who will be a junior at Central Catholic High School this school year, won the 3,000-meter racewalk for the intermediate boys' division (15-16 year olds) at the USTA National Junior Olympics last month in Greensboro, N.C.

"Right now, there are only two racewalkers in the Pittsburgh area [in his age group]," Nemeth said. "The other one I only raced with in nationals; that's about all. There aren't many in the area.

"It's pretty popular in other areas of the U.S., but it's not very popular here. It's a good sport. It would be a lot better training if there were more people who did it."

Nemeth, a member of the Wings of Moon Track Club in Moon, made the 7 1/2-lap trek around the track July 29 at North Carolina A&T State University in 13 minutes, 32.32 seconds, winning by more than 33 seconds against runner-up Alejandro Chavez.

"I pretty much started off ahead and I held my lead the whole time," Nemeth said. "I just held a good pace, and they never really caught up.

"There's usually a lead pack of two or three guys, and there were about two guys who kept up with me for about two laps, and then they kind of dropped off.

"It was a real good feeling."

The 3,000-meter race is considered the "sprint" for racewalking, which also has races of much greater distances.

But the 3,000-meter is the event in which Nemeth specializes. He finished fourth nationally last year.

"You've got to have perfect form," Nemeth said. "The form is one leg straight at a time, and you can't have two legs off the ground at once. It's kind of confusing, because there's two ways [not to have perfect form]: Bent knee or loss of contact. You always have to have perfect form; it's all about the form. They give you three warnings [if you're not in form], and then you're off the track."

Nemeth first took up racewalking when he was 8. His two older sisters were proficient in the sport. Annie Nemeth is a former Junior Olympic national champion herself (in the 13-14 year-old division in 1998).

"My sisters, they did it, and I would watch them and just try to imitate what they did," Michael Nemeth said. "They saw that I could do it, so they got me into it."

He first qualified for the Junior Olympics a couple years ago and has been doing it ever since. To qualify for nationals, Nemeth needed to advance through local qualifying through the Three Rivers Association and then at regionals, which this year took place in Jamestown, N.Y., July 9-12.

Nemeth also competes for the Central Catholic track and field team, but he does so only as a thrower. The PIAA does not compete in racewalking.

Nemeth is also a swimmer for the Vikings, competing in the breaststroke and 500-yard freestyle events. He said he would like to participate in either racewalking or swimming in college.

"I'll have to make a decision when that time comes," he said.

There are college scholarships available for racewalking. The NAIA college athletics governing body sponsors the sport among its competing schools, with more than 100 having athletes represented at the NAIA championships.

Nemeth said about 80 schools offer scholarships for the sport and that one racer received a full scholarship last year.

"I'd like to keep competing, and take it as far as I can," Nemeth said.