Natalie Smith Bio
9/20/2007 4:02:00 AM | General
Natalie Smith enters her fifth season at the helm of both the Georgia Southern Track and Field and Cross Country programs. She was named head coach of both programs in August of 2006 and is now the longest-tenured coach in the 10-year history of the program. She has lead the program to new heights by winning the SoCon outdoor title in 2007 and under her guidance, her squads have set a combined 14 school records in four years (11 outdoor; three indoor). Smith's student-athletes also excel in the classroom with SoCon All-Academic honors awarded to individuals on both teams each year.
In the last two seasons, Smith continued to establish the Eagles as a premier team in the Southern Conference in the areas of the jumps, multi's and sprints. Georgia Southern has claimed six different conference championships and numerous top-three finishes in events in those three areas. Coach Smith and her staff have helped student-athletes reach their potential and it has been evident as the Eagles have made their mark in the conference.
The Eagles stepped to the top of the award stand in both the pentathlon and the heptathlon in both the 2009 and 2010 seasons. Shaunta Hamilton, the 2010 Southern Conference Champion in the Heptathlon (outdoor), finished just ahead of Eagle teammate Lynndsey Hyter who was the runner up in that event. Hamilton's performance in the Triple Jump placed her second among all competitors to go along with a second-place finish in the 2010 Long Jump event.
The 2009 Most Outstanding Athlete of the Year (indoor), Hyter was the SoCon Indoor Pentathlon champion in both 2009 and 2010 and she also took silver in the Triple Jump. She and Hamilton finished with two of the top three spots in the Long Jump in 2010. Hyter was named the Field Athlete of the Year for the Indoor season in 2009 after taking the conference crown in the Long Jump and second-place finishes in the 60m Hurdles and in the Triple Jump. She earned Field Athlete of the Year (indoor) honors in 2010 for top-three finishes in the Long Jump and Triple Jump in addition to her Pentathlon title.
Melanie Trumbo and Hyter gave the Eagles a one-two finish in the Heptathlon in the 2009 SoCon Outdoor Championships. Trumbo finished as the runnerup in the High Jump event for both the indoor and outdoor seasons and took home the bronze in the Javelin at the league's championship event. Teammate Jasmine Lightning placed third in the High Jump to help the Eagles in the points total.
Sprinter Demetrise Anthony posted solid efforts with second-place finishes in the 60m Dash in 2009 and the 100m Dash in both 2009 and 2010. The two-time SoCon champion in the Long Jump, she qualified for NCAA Regionals as a junior. In her first collegiate season, Jasmine Billings kept the Eagle tradition of success in the hurdles, finishing second in the 60m Hurdles and third in the 100m Hurdles. Kristen Olson won the 100m event for Georgia Southern in 2009.
With one of the top times in Georgia Southern history in the 400 meter Dash, Ashley Bush-Hardy brought attention to the event with strong performances in both 2008 and 2009. She also led the Eagle 4x400 relay team to a second-place finish.
In 2008, the program had strong performances at the SoCon Championships placing third in both the Indoor and Outdoor meets, with six Eagles advancing to the NCAA East Regional in Tallahassee, Fla. The Eagles won four individual Southern Conference Championships at the outdoor meet, with senior Carla Ballard earning the SoCon Championship in the 400m hurdles and Trumbo jumping a season best 5'06.00" to claim the high jump crown. Jennifer Charles was successful in the shot put, placing first with a distance of 44'7.50". The squad broke three more school records (1 indoor, 2 outdoor).
Smith also saw two of the student-athletes she coached named to the SoCon's 25th Anniversary of Women's Championships Team in Abby Bloom and Nicole Brown. The team also had seven all Academic All-Conference selections. Bloom, who became one of the greatest cross country runners in Georgia Southern history under Coach Smith's tutelage, completed an outstanding senior season by finishing first among the Eagles in every cross country meet.
The Eagles' academic accomplishments are also of note. In the first two seasons with Smith as head coach at Georgia Southern, 27 members of the Eagles program were named to the SoCon All-Academic team. Anthony, Jessica Irizarry and Brown were honored by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association for their academic achievements. Brown and Jessica Kerzie were named to ESPN The Magazine's Academic All-District second team.
In 2007 Smith led the Eagles Track and Field program to the outdoor title in just her first season as head coach. She was named the Southern Conference Coach of the Year and the GAHPERD Female College Coach of the Year (GA W.I.N.),
Under Smith's watchful eye, Brown became the first track & field athlete in Georgia Southern history to compete in the NCAA Championships by qualifying in the triple jump. Brown was recognized by the Southern Conference being named Field Athlete of the Year for the indoor season after winning four events at the conference championships. In addition she was named Track Athlete of the Year after her performance in the outdoor championships where she took first in five events.
Additionally, seniors Brown and Rashedah Arnold, freshman Demetrise Anthony and junior Shamyria Ortiz were selected to the All East Region Team by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association for their performance as a part of the 4x100M relay, setting a new Georgia Southern record with a time of 45.05.
Before coming to Statesboro, Smith directed the men and women's track program at Tarleton State (Texas) University for two years. A four-year letterwinner for the TexAnns, Smith spent time at TSU as a graduate assistant and then assistant coach before taking over both programs.
Smith (a specialist with the jumps, hurdles, sprints and mid-distance events) coached 11 student-athletes to the national championships during her first year in charge. Of those 11, nine earned All-America honors.
Two of Smith's hurdlers, Shaun Loving and Amy Mills, each had successful seasons in 2005, as they both received All-American awards and set several school records. Smith was able to send both the men's and women's 4x400M relay teams to the national championships where the women shattered the 2001 school record that Smith and her student-athlete Amy Mills held. Both the men's and women's teams claimed All-American status. Smith also coached Quincy Anthony as he captured his third-straight All-America award in the 400 meters.
A native of Groesbeck, Texas, Smith was a four-year letter winner on the TexAnns track team. She was named the team's MVP for track and field in both 2000 and 2001 while also claiming Academic All-American awards in 2001. Smith qualified for the NCAA Division II national meet in 2001 as a part of Tarleton's Lone Star Conference champion 4x400M relay team.
Smith was a multi-sport standout at Groesbeck HS, earning four letters in basketball, track, cross country and volleyball. She was District Co-MVP in basketball in 1997 after helping her team win the state championship in 1996. She was named her schools' Female Athlete of the Year in 1997.
Smith earned a Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice with an emphasis in law enforcement from Tarleton State in 2001 and a Master's in Physical Education in 2002. Smith sponsored TSU's Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated and worked as a facilitator for the Division II NCAA Leadership Academy.
