BOSTON, Mass. - Breaking records is Fiona Smith's thing ever since she walked onto campus at the College of Saint Benedict.

On Saturday (Dec. 2) at the Sharon Colyear Season Opener at the Boston University, the senior standout for the CSB Track and Field Team clocked 15:50.48 across 5,000-meters to not only break the CSB record but run the fastest indoor time ever at the distance in NCAA DIII. In a field of mainly NCAA DI runners, Smith cruised to a time that bettered her previous best of 16:33.79, or improvement of over 43 seconds. In NCAA DIII,  no runner in history had ever ran faster than 15:58  until Smith ran 15:50 in a performance that makes the CSB senior the best ever at the indoor 5K. 

It was the opening of the 2023-24 indoor track and field season for Smith. The senior from Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, is a 12-time DIII All-American, who has won three individual national titles in cross country and track and field. Smith shattered her own school record (16:33.79), she set in
winning the 5K title  at the Birmingham Crossplex on March 10. She also won the 3,000-meter title at the DIII indoor championship last March.

This performance is on par with what the standout senior as already accomplished in 2023. Smith won the NCAA DIII individual title in cross country, becoming the first-ever Bennies' student-athlete to win a national title.  Smith, who won the NCAA DIII individual cross-country title in a record-breaking effort on Nov. 18, has become the first ever at CSB and third in the MIAC to be named the United States Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) NCAA DIII National Athlete of the Year in Cross Country.

At the 2023 NCAA DIII Championship, Smith, a three-time MIAC and All-Region Athlete of the Year, excelled at a high level and won the individual cross country race by 1:03, covering the six-kilometer course in a championship record of 19:54.1 on a hilly and challenging course in Newville, Pa.In her performance, Smith became the first-ever in DIII history to clock sub-20 minutes in a championship race. Smith cracked the sub-20 mark for a third time this season – another NCAA DIII first. In winning the race, Smith won her seventh cross country race in 2023 and 17^th in her career.  Smith was named the NCAA DIII North Region Athlete of the Year for the third time this week, unprecedented in MIAC history. For the second time, Smith was also recently named the MIAC Elite 22 Award recipient and named the USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Year, yet another first by a CSB student-athlete.

This year, Smith has won four MIAC Athlete of the Week honors and two USTFCCA National Athlete of the Week honors. She has set course records at nearly every competition, established MIAC bests, and broken school records three times.