It was a history-making year for the nationally ranked College of Saint Benedict Cross Country Team in the fall of 2022.

Led by NCAA DIII national runner-up Fiona Smith, the Bennies had a highly successful season, which included a No. 30 ranking by the USTFCCA. Smith, who clocked in at 21:49.6 at the DII Championship, had the best finish ever by a St. Ben's student-athlete at the NCAA DIII Championships. 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.

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).

 

In addition to the historic performance at the DIII Championship, Smith was 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. 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). 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. 

This fall, CSB finished top three in four competitions and 11^th among 30 steams at the Roy Griak Invite and 12^th of 36 teams at the Pre-Nationals while winning two other competitions. The Bennies placed third at the MIAC Championships with 88 points with Smith winning her second straight MIAC title. CSB, which was ranked as high as fifth in the North Region by the USTFCCCA, had five runners place in the top 27, cutting 39 points on their total of 2021. Aside from Smith at the MIAC Championships, Annie Kiolbasa earned All-MIAC first-team honors by placing 15^th with a clocking of 23:43.49. First-year Mary Kenney was 22^nd in 24:12.05 as she earned honorable mention All-MIAC honors. Bridget Tetmeyer, finished 27^th, in 24:25.16 while sophomore Kalli Smith was 30^th in 24:42.9.

At the NCAA North regional meet, Smith ran to a second straight title as CSB was sixth among 33 teams with 226 points. Smith clocked her fifth sub-21 time with the 21:51.06 clocking as she opened up a six-second lead at the 1.6K mark with a time of 5:17. Along with Smith, Kiolbasa finished 34^th to claimed an all-region honor with a personal-best of 23:10.0, which places her time 22^nd all-time at CSB. She bettered her previous mark by less than a second. Kenney was 58th        with a clocking of 23:54.4. Tetmeyer took 63^rd with a time of 23:59.5 with sophomore Kalli Smith taking 70^th in 24:07.4. In 79^th was freshman Eva Creighton, who had a personal-best by 40 seconds as she clocked in at 24:17.7. Yeager who won CSB's Fall Finale 5K race a week ago, was 94^th in 24:32.2.
 
At the DIII nationals, Smith recorded her second straight All-American performance (7^th overall, including track and field) and the best performance in school history by placing second. Both Smith, who was also named the MIAC Elite 22 honoree and a Wooden Citizen Cup finalist, and Kiolbasa were named All-Region.

After a fall of record-setting achievements on the course, CSB Cross Country Team was recognized for its work in the classroom as one of 212 teams in NCAA DIII to be receive USTFCCCA All-Academic Team honors. CSB had a had a cumulative GPA of 3.66 to qualify for the award in which a team must maintain a team GPA of 3.1 or higher.
 
Aside from the 2020 season where MIAC and NCAA championships were canceled due to COVID, Saint Benedict has earned All-Academic Team honors in each of the last 26 seasons dating back to at least 1996, and 27 times dating back to 1993. Along with the team honor, F. Smith and Kiolbasa earned USTFCCCA All-Academic accolades. Overall, there were 383 women from 137 different institutions who were named All-Academic Athletes for their efforts during the 2022 season.