NEW ORLEANS, La. – The awards continue to come in for 12-time All-American Fiona Smith of the No. 14 College of Saint Benedict indoor track and field team, who has been named the USTFCCCA North Region Indoor Athlete of the Year, according to an announcement today (March 6) by the USTFCCCA.

Smith, a senior from Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, became the first in CSB history to earn the NCAA DIII Indoor North Region Athlete of the Year honor. Smith, who will compete at the NCAA DIII Indoor Track and Field Championship on March 8-9 in Virginia Beach, Va., was honored on March 5 as an all-region performer for the fourth straight year after being recognized in the mile, 3,000-meters and 5,000-meters during the 2023-24 season. In 2021, she was honored in the 1,500, 3,000 and 5,000-meter runs and in both 2022 and 2023 earned the designation in the mile, 3,000 and 5,000 meters events. Smith now has 12 all-region honors indoors. As a program, CSB has had 11 student-athletes earn 26 total USTFCCCA indoor honors in school history.

This year, Smith was all-region with the top times in both the 3,000-meters (9:23.40, SDSU Indoor Classic, Feb. 9) and the 5,000-meters (15:50.48, Sharon-Colyear Danville Season Opener, Boston, Mass., Dec. 2) as well as the fifth-best time in the mile (4:50.21, Gopher Classic, Feb. 2).

Regional athletes and coaches of the year for the 2024 NCAA DIII Indoor Track and Field season were announced today, representing each of the 10 regions – East, Great Lakes, Metro, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Mideast, Niagara, North, South and West. Award winners were determined by a vote of USTFCCCA member coaches.
 
Smith will look to defend her national titles in the 3,000-meters and 5,000-meters at the 2024 DIII championships. She has a program-best three national titles during her career, including both the 2023 DIII indoor 3,000- and 5,000-meters and the 2023 DIII cross country championship. At the DIII Championship, Smith is scheduled to compete in the 5,000-meters at 4:45 p.m., on Friday, March 8 and then she will run in the 3,000-meters on Saturday, March, 9 at 5:40 p.m.
 
Smith recently named MIAC Indoor Athlete of the Year
Smith, who was recently named a first-ever three-time MIAC Indoor Track Athlete of the Year, is top-ranked in both events. She won three individual titles and anchored the winning distance medley relay to lead Saint Benedict to second place in the team standings at MIAC Championship on Feb. 22-24. Smith was honored in a vote of the league coaches after her sterling performance at the MIAC championships. Smith, who won the NCAA DIII Cross Country Championship in the fall, was a major contributor as the CSB indoor track and field team finished with 120 team points for second in the MIAC team standings. The team point total was the most since Saint Benedict was second with 122 points in 2014.

On Feb. 24, Smith had a facility record of 9:46.83 as she won her third straight 3,000-meters race at the MIAC Championships. Smith won the 3K by 12.66 seconds in a third dominating performance in three individual events at the MIAC Championship. On Feb. 23, she was part of three All-MIAC titles. She started the day at 4:30 p.m. and set a MIAC Championship record of 16:40.72 in capturing the 5,000-meters for a third straight year. She finished 38 seconds ahead of the second place finisher in a dominating individual performance.

And, just an hour later on Friday (Feb. 23), Smith was back on the track and won the mile in 5:03.93, finishing nearly three seconds ahead of the rest of the field. To cap the night off, Smith helped lead Saint Benedict to the distance medley relay title with a clocking of 12:22.85. Smith, who has been part of seven career indoor All-MIAC titles, anchored a team of freshman Taylor Radaich, junior Emerson Knapp, and senior Lucy Lyngen as that team finished just .41 from a championship record (12:22.44, Carleton, 2022).

The senior standout now has won or been part of a combined 15 winning indoor/outdoor All-MIAC titles in her career. Of that total, she has 13 individual titles and has 17 total All-MIAC performances.