CSB senior Fiona Smith wins third career national championship, sets NCAA race record
NEWVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA – Decorated College of St. Benedict runner Fiona Smith is again a national champion – now a record-breaking one.
Smith ran a 19:54.1 in the 6K national championship Saturday, winning the race by 63 seconds and setting an NCAA Division III championship record on the course at Big Spring High School. The senior from Dhahran, Saudi Arabia has set many school and conference records while on the track or a course as a Bennie, including becoming the school’s first national champion in March. She won the indoor 5,000-meter and 3,000-meter events.
"It feels good. I don't think it's really sunk in yet,” Smith said in a press release from CSB. “I'm still feeling a little overwhelmed from it all. But it's really exciting. It's a great feeling and I'm really happy."
Smith was one of two CSB runners who qualified for the race. Senior Annie Kiolbasa placed 144th of 292 runners with a time of 22:49.3. Earlier in the day, St. John's senior Lloyd Young ended his cross country career by placing 249th out of 294 runners in the 8K race with a time of 26:41. It was Young’s third time competing in the fall national championship and Kiolbasa’s first.
“(Kiolbasa) finished the last kilometer strong and ran a strong race in a great field,” CSB coach Robin Balder-Lanoue said.
St. Benedict placed 6th of 31 teams Nov. 11 in the DIII North Region Championships in Colfax, Wisconsin. St. John’s placed 15th of 34 teams. No runners from St. Cloud State qualified for the DII national race. The Huskies’ season ended Nov. 4 in the NCAA Central Region Championships in Joplin, Missouri.
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In her record-setting race, Smith paced the field, quickly building a wide gap between her and the lead group. She attacked the flatter first mile, laying down a 5:13.6 split and held a strong pace all alone through the back hills. At the two-mile mark Smith was over 30 seconds ahead of the eventual second-place finisher, Natalie Bitetti from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
"I am proud of the way Fiona handled the pressure of the expectations that have been put on her," Balder-Lanoune said. "She had a race plan and executed it beautifully."
Smith called the conditions “perfect,” after placing second on last year’s snowy course in Lansing, Michigan.
“It was a little windy, but 45 to 50 and sunny, so super gorgeous,” she said. “The course was pretty hilly, but the atmosphere with all the spectators (was great). The environment really helped get me through all those hills."
Smith ran CSB’s fastest 6K on three occasions this season, her best time of 19:51.1 coming Oct. 14 at the Connecticut College Invitational.
Contact reporter Reid Glenn at rglenn@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: CSB cross country runner Fiona Smith wins national championship
