INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Fiona Smith of the College of Saint Benedict Cross Country Team has had a record-breaking, history-making season and the junior standout will look to continue the success at the NCAA DIII Championships on Saturday, Nov. 19 at Forest Akers East Golf Course on the campus of Michigan State in Lansing, Mich.

On Sunday (Nov. 13), Smith, who has won back-to-back NCAA DIII North Region titles, was among the individuals selected to go to the NCAA Championships. With her school record clocking of 20:51.6 at regionals on Nov. 12 in Northfield, Minn., she won the race by 15.3 seconds to earn the berth at nationals.

"Fiona has been doing all the right things all season to set herself up for a great NCAA Championship race," said CSB Head Coach Robin Balder-Lanoue.

In the announcement by the NCAA (click here for the release), 32 teams were selected to participate in each championship. The top seven-person team automatically qualified from each of the 10 regions, for a total of 10 teams. Twenty-two additional teams were selected at-large. Seventy individuals, the first seven student-athletes from each region who are not a part of a qualifying team, were selected to participate in each championship. Olivet College and the Greater Lansing Sports Authority are hosting the championships Nov. 19 at Forest Akers East Golf Course on the campus of Michigan State University in Lansing, Michigan. The women's race will begin at 11 a.m. Eastern, followed by the men's race at Noon Eastern. A live webstream of the championships will occur on www.NCAA.com beginning at 11 a.m. Eastern until the conclusion of the awards ceremony.

Smith is the 12th national qualifier in CSB cross country history and will attempt to become the program's first back-to-back All-American since Leah Wurm in 2004-05. A year ago, Smith, who has six All-American honors in cross country and track and field, finished fifth at the DIII Championship for her first cross country All-American honor. Smith, who was named the 2021 North Region Cross Country Athlete of the Year, will also look for CSB's best individual finish at nationals, which was by Missy Petersen, who took third in 1994.
 
The 2021-22 CSB Athlete of the Year, Smith led the 2022 regional race from start to finish in her memorable repeat as champion. She led No. 34 ranked CSB to a sixth place team finish with her record time. She now has record sub-21 minutes clockings five times in the 6K. She finished 15.3 seconds in front of runner up Clara Mayfield of No. 8 Carleton, which won the team crown with 41 points.  

In back-to-back seasons, Smith  earned the MIAC Athlete of the Year honors. In winning a second-straight MIAC title, she had a clocking of 28:14.58 which is the second fastest in MIAC history for 6K.  Smith bettered her 2021 MIAC title-winning performance by over 14 seconds. She is the sixth female student-athlete in MIAC history to win back-to-back league individual titles, which had not been achieved since Bethel's Marie Borner won three in a row from 2007-09. Smith is the first back-to-back champion at St. Ben's and one of three women including Morgan Pierce, 2018; and Leah Wurm, 2004 to win a MIAC individual crown as well as earn MIAC MVP honors.

This season, Smith has five individual titles in six races (two second place finishes) along with three MIAC Athlete of the Week honors (12 in her career). In the past two years, she has won 10 cross country races. On Sept. 26, she became the first-ever CSB student-athlete to be named USTFCCCA DIII Athlete of the Week.