EAST LANSING, Mich. –
Fiona Smith of the College of Saint Benedict Cross Country Team continues to attain program-historic firsts by finishing second and earning her second consecutive All-American honor at the NCAA DIII Cross Country Championships on a snowy, windy and cold Saturday morning on the Forest Akers East Golf Course.
Smith, who clocked in at 21:49.6, had the best finish ever by a St. Ben's student-athlete. Previously, Missy Petersen was third at the 1994 NCAA DIII Championships. Smith, who was fifth a year ago, has now had consecutive top-five finishes at the DIII Cross Country Championships, which is a historic first at St. Ben's.
In a field of 292 runners, Smith finished only behind two-time national champion Kassie Parker of Loras, who clocked a 6K time of 21:06.5. Parker and Smith ran 1-2 nearly the entire 6K distance. At the one-mile mark, Smith was at 5:43.8 with Parker at 5:35.7. Parker had a 11:13.3 mark at the two-mile mark with Smith clocking 11:35.1. From that point, Smith was at 13:41.3 at the 3.8K, 17:56.1 at 5K before finishing at 21:49.6. She finished six seconds ahead of the third place runner Clara Mayfield of Carleton at 21:55.7. Carleton finished fourth as a team and St. Olaf was eighth as the MIAC was well-represented at the DIII championship.
CSB Cross Country Head Coach
Robin Balder-Lanoue was pleased with the performance of the standout junior.
"Fiona ran a strong race from start to finish," said Balder-Lanoue. "What a great effort on a cold day."
Smith is the second CSB athlete to earn All-American honors in back-to-back seasons, joining Leah Wurm in 2004 and 2005. However, she is the only Bennies student-athlete to finish top-five in consecutive years. The other CSB All-Americans include Petersen in 1994 and Katy Deignan in 1991. She is also the first CSB student-athlete ever to attain a combined seven All-American honors in cross country (two) and track and field (five).
"It was definitely a painful race today and I definitely left it all on the course," said Smith, who was named the MIAC Elite 22 student-athlete for cross country this week. "It was a very cold and snow day - it was like 20 degrees so it made it feel like 10 or 15. So, that definitely made it difficult part of it (the race), too. I enjoy the snow; I like the cold weather and so that made it more fun. It was a fun day. It was a crazy atmosphere as we had a lot of Johnnies and Bennies coming out here to support us from cross country teams. I couldn't be happier with my finish today," she added.
The 2021-22 CSB Athlete of the Year, Smith, has had a memorable and historic season with CSB Cross Country. She is the first in school history to win back-to-back MIAC individual titles and also the first to repeat as the NCAA DIII North Region individual champion. In addition, Smith finished first or second in every race she ran this year, winning five titles.
In 2022, she earned three MIAC Athlete of the Week honors (12 in her career). In the past two years, Smith has 10 individual cross country wins. In addition, she was 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. On Sept. 26, she became the first-ever CSB student-athlete to be named USTFCCCA DIII Athlete of the Week.
