2021-22 Cross Country/Track and Field CoSIDA Academic All-America List

ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – Fiona Smith already has five All-American honors to her name this season, but Tuesday afternoon, the sophomore distance runner added one more to her yearly total.
 
After finishing in the top five in all five national races she competed in as a sophomore with both the College of Saint Benedict cross country and track and field teams in 2021-22, Smith earned CoSIDA Academic All-America Second Team honors for her work in the classroom. Smith, a math major, has a perfect 4.0 through her second year of college at Saint Benedict.
 
Smith is the fourth CoSIDA Academic All-American in CSB track and field and cross country history, and the first since Allison Kosobud was named to the third team in 2017. Her second-team honor is the best for the two programs since Alexis Brunner was named to the second team in 1996. Smith, Kosobud, Brunner and Katy Deignan – a first-team honoree in 1993 – are the programs' four academic All-Americans.
 
Smith is one of just two sophomores on any of the three All-American teams, joining Calvin sophomore Delaney Sall, who earned a spot on the third team. She is also one of three MIAC athletes to earn academic honors. Gustavus junior Birgen Nelson earned a first-team nod and Smith is joined by Gustie Elizabeth Donnelly on the second team.
 
The academic honor brings Smith's All-American total to six in her sophomore season, and seven in her CSB athletic career. After taking fifth in the 5K at the 2021 NCAA Outdoor Championships, Smith took fifth at the 2021 cross country national meet, third in the 3K and fourth in the 5K at the 2022 indoor national championships and recorded a pair of fourth-place finishes in the 5K and 10K at the outdoor championships in May. She set eight school records this season and won five MIAC titles.
 
Smith is the 28^th CoSIDA Academic All-America honoree in CSB athletics history.