For Immediate Release
November 18, 2000
By: Jenny Kincaid '01


Casey Smith Places 27th at National Meet
RC Senior Runs 18:34, Earns All-American Honors

SPOKANE, WA—If Casey Smith remembers one thing about the last cross country race of her college career, it is that she never looked back. Saturday, the Roanoke runner capped off her senior season with a 27th place finish at the National Cross Country Championships, hosted by Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington, and All-American honors for the second year in a row. 

	Battling a snow-patched course and 30-degree temperatures, Smith, who placed 21st at last year's championships, moved up to second place at the two-mile mark before dropping back to finish in 27th.

	"I went out pretty aggressively, more than I've ever gone out before," said Smith, who completed the 3.1 mile course in 18:34. "Although I would have liked to have finished in the top 15, I was satisfied because I had nothing left at the end. I tried to run at second place because I didn't want to have to look back and say that I'd never tried."

	Roanoke cross country coach, Finn Pincus, praised Smith's gutsy efforts.

	"A runner is forced to make quick decisions in terms of to go out or not to go," he explained. "You have to make them quickly if you want to be successful."

	And successful best describes Smith's four-year cross country career at Roanoke. According to Pincus, Smith is the most successful runner that Roanoke has had in the last 20 years and the only All-American cross country athlete that he has ever coached. 

Winner of both the Virginia State Division III Cross Country and the ODAC Championships this season, Smith added another accolade this weekend to her already long list of honors. Smith was named the Southeast Region Runner of the Year at a banquet Friday night. After a disappointing Southeast Region race at which a wrong turn cost her the championship, Smith was pleasantly surprised by the honor.

"That just shows the respect that the coaches have for her and for what she has been through this season," said Pincus, alluding to a hip/back injury and a virus, each of which Smith has battled since the middle of the season. "With all of these, a lot of people wouldn't even qualify for Nationals or have done anything when they got there. She could wipe the slate clean and race well despite the negative aspects of the season."

And for Smith, setting goals and overcoming obstacles was a key in this race and in the last four years. 

"When I came in as a freshman, I didn't even know there was a National meet," she said. "I've raised the standards that I have for myself and a lot of it is not letting the little things get me down. I finished in 27th. And although I wish I had placed a little higher, I realize that just being up there is significant."