BYUH's Smith a runaway winner
By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer
Brigham Young-Hawai'i sophomore Chelsea Smith amazed everyone, including herself, at Saturday's NCAA II Women's Cross Country National Championship meet in Raleigh, N.C.
Smith, a former walk-on from Mead, Wash., stunned the cross country world by winning the 6-kilometer, 189-competitor race in 20 minutes, 33.9 seconds.
SMITH
Last year, Smith finished 57th at the national race. She became the first NCAA individual cross country champion in BYUH history and broke her own BYUH record in the 6-kilometer.
Smith was one of three Hawai'i runners who finished in the top seven at the national meet held in cool, mid 70-degree weather. Hawai'i Pacific's William Ngetich finished sixth (31:06.30) in the men's 10-kilometer race, and HPU's Nina Christensen finished seventh (21:39.3) in the women's race.
"I definitely surprised myself," Smith said. "I thought I had a chance of getting All-American, which is top 30. I didn't think I would win the national championship."
Apparently, neither did many other runners who clamored to find out her identity after the race.
"They were like, 'who is this Hawai'i girl?' " Smith said. "They had never even heard of BYU-Hawai'i. People looked at me. I was wearing all red and I'm a lot taller than most people. I really stood out. I kept hearing, 'tall Hawai'i girl in red.' "
Smith, who is 5 feet 9 and 126 pounds, said she managed to stay calm before the race by talking with HPU's Christensen. Other runners took different preparations.
"There was this sense of adrenaline in the air," Smith said. "At the starting line, some girls were crying. Some girls were jumping up and down."
Once the race started, Smith said she stayed with the lead pack for about a half mile and overtook lead runner Mindy Sawtelle of Indiana University of Pennsylvania at the one-mile mark.
"It was like she stole my grandma's purse or something," Smith said. "I was just chasing after her, just reeling her in."
After passing Sawtelle, Smith led the rest of the race and kept pressure on herself by pretending runners were "right in back of me." Smith finished nearly 26 seconds ahead of Sawtelle.
Smith, who graduated from Mt. Spokane High School in 2002, said she chose BYUH because she wanted to go to a church school and run cross country. She doubted that she would be good enough to run at BYU-Provo, and added that BYU-Idaho didn't have a cross country program.
"That left me with BYU-Hawai'i," Smith said. "All my friends were going to BYU-Provo. I didn't want to follow the crowd."
Smith ran cross country her final two years at Mt. Spokane and said that her times weren't that fast.
"I ran my junior year, it was kind of a joke," she said. "My senior year was kind of a joke, too. I got a little more serious, but not too much."
BYUH coach Norman Kaluhiokalani told Smith to try out last season. Kaluhiokalani said he was impressed with her desire and natural running ability.
"She just has a gift that she never knew she had," said Kaluhiokalani, who has been coaching the women's and men's teams for nearly 30 years. "When she came here I was fortunate to be the one to harness the talent. Every meet, she just improves.
"The first time I saw her, I said, 'here's a runner,' " Kaluhiokalani continued. "She has all the features of a runner — long legs, tall and good running form. I didn't have to correct anything like that. She just had to be fine-tuned. It's like a Mercedes and just having it tuned up."
Smith earned a partial scholarship after her first meet in her freshman year, and this year earned a full scholarship. She has competed in seven races this season and won six times. In each race, she broke the school record for the distance involved. Last week, she was named the NCAA II Pacific Region Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Year.
Kaluhiokalani called Smith, who carries a 3.9 GPA, a good role model for the rest of the team. Smith wants to be a dietician and is majoring in biology, and exercise and sport science.
"She's a good girl," Kaluhiokalani said. "She's very friendly. She's always willing to help and work with the other kids."
• Abrahams nets basketball honor: Hawai'i-Hilo senior guard Ryan Abrahams earned this season's first Pacific West Conference Player of the Week honor.
Abrahams, who is from Los Angeles, averaged 16.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game as the Vulcans won two of three road games.
Abrahams is the only returning All-Pac West first-team selection.
Reach Brandon Masuoka at bmasuoka@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2458.
• • •
Final Pacific West Conference
WOMEN's VOLLEYBALL STANDINGS
Conf. Overall
W-L W-L
#—Hawai'i Pacific 6-4 17-8
Western New Mexico 4-6 18-13
Chaminade 4-6 10-13
Hawai'i-Hilo 4-6 8-15
Montana State-Billings 2-8 6-20
%—BYU-Hawai'i 10-0 20-2
#—Pacific West Conference champions
%—Forfeited Pacific West Conference championship
Last week's volleyball results
NCAA Division II tournament
Nov. 20
Quarterfinal
Hawai'i Pacific def. Cal State Bakersfield 30-26, 24-30, 21-30, 30-23, 15-11
Nov. 21
Semifinal
Hawai'i Pacific def. UC San Diego 29-31, 30-24, 31-29, 23-30, 18-16
No. 22
Final
Cal State San Bernardino def. Hawai'i Pacific 30-28, 30-21, 30-22
Last week's basketball results
Hawai'i 63, Brigham Young-Hawai'i 56
Brigham Young-Hawai'i 63, Regis (Colo.) 57
Colorado State 85, Brigham Young-Hawai'i 53
Alaska-Anchorage 101, Hawai'i Pacific 72
Eastern Oregon 90, Hawai'i Pacific 85
Alaska-Anchorage 80, Hawai'i Pacific 67
Montana State-Billings 98, Minot State (N.D.) 95
Hawai'i-Hilo 78, St. Martin's (Wash.) 75
Cal State-Stanislaus 80, Hawai'i-Hilo 71 (OT)
Hawai'i-Hilo 59, Cal State-Monterey Bay 54
Colorado State-Pueblo 88, Western New Mexico 61
This week's basketball schedule
Monday's results
Brigham Young-Hawai'i 89, San Francisco State 66
Chaminade 52, Villanova (Pa.) 49
Colorado State-Pueblo 83, Western New Mexico 61
Yesterday's result
Hawai'i 68, Chaminade 54
Today's games
Chaminade vs. San Diego State, 11:30 a.m.
Western New Mexico at New Mexico Highlands
Friday's games
Brigham Young-Hawai'i vs. Adams State (Colo.)
Hawai'i Pacific vs. Humboldt State (Calif.)
Hawai'i-Hilo vs. Dartmouth (N.H.)
Saturday's games
Brigham Young-Hawai'i vs. Humboldt State (Calif.)
Hawai'i Pacific vs. Adams State (Colo.)
Hawai'i-Hilo vs. Rider (N.J.)
Sunday's game
Hawai'i-Hilo vs. Quinnipiac (Conn.)
