ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – After an impressive outdoor season, Fiona Smith has officially punched her ticket to the 2022 NCAA Outdoor National Championships.
 
Smith qualified in both the 5,000- and 10,000-meter runs, it was announced Friday evening. This marks the second straight national meet that Smith will compete in two events. She is the first CSB track and field athlete to qualify for outdoor nationals in two events since Julia Renner qualified in the high jump and long jump in 2010.
 
Smith – who took fifth in the 5K as a first year last season to earn the first All-American honor of her career – heads into the 2022 national meet ranked third in the event after posting a time of 16:16.54 at the Drake Relays. Johns Hopkins' Ella Baran leads the field with an impressive 15:49.09 – 20 seconds ahead of Loras' Kassie Parker, who is just ahead of Smith with a time of 16:09.66. Smith's seed time puts her 10 seconds ahead of both Wellesley's Ari Marks and Trine's Evie Miller, who have both run 16:26 5Ks this season.
 
After smashing the school record in the 10K in her first time competing in the event, Smith heads to nationals with the third-best time in Division III. She ran a 34:33.37 at the CSB/SJU Invite on April 9. Parker leads the field with a 33:03.61 – a Division III record she set on April 1 at Stanford. Marks is second in 34:16.45 and sits just ahead of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps' Meredith Bloss, who comes into nationals with a time of 34:35.52.
 
Smith won MIAC championships in both events two weeks ago at the conference outdoor meet, and she set school records in both events this spring. She already has two track and field All-American honors under her belt in 2022 after finishing top five in the 3K and 5K at the indoor national meet, and three total All-American honors thanks to a fifth-place finish at the cross country national championships in November.
 
The 2022 NCAA Outdoor National Championships are May 26-28 at the Spire Institute in Geneva, Ohio. Smith runs the 10K at approximately 7:30 p.m. CDT on Thursday, May 26, and the 5K at 2 p.m. CDT on Saturday, May 28. Live results are available here.