JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Senior Katie Smock earned SAC Runner of the Week honors after finishing 1st at the ASICS Invitational, becoming the second Eagle to earn the accolade after Colten Lee's selection earlier in September.
"It's very honoring and very rewarding," Smock said. "I'm very excited to hold that for Carson-Newman and to get our name out there."
After running a time of 18:18 over the weekend, Smock is proud of the performance she put forth.
"It started out really fast," Smock said. "Those last few meters were pretty tough to get through, but we all got through it together."
Smock's effort led the Eagles, but C-N had a lot of success as a team, securing 1st place at the ASICS Invitational.
"In practice, we were consistently good," Smock said. "We showed up every day with intention… We've carried that through practice a lot, sticking together in packs and closing the gaps. The gaps are getting smaller, and that's showing through the team performances."
During the race, Smock and the Eagles focus heavily on running in packs to generate a good finish for the team.
"Focusing on what you do individually is great, and it's really what you should focus on because it plays into the team performance," Smock said. "But knowing that everyone is out there doing their job and pushing to be their best shows a great team performance."
Smock believes the first-place finish does a lot for the team's confidence going into the rest of the fall season.
"A lot of it comes down to the confidence that we can take with us," Smock said. "You can learn from each race, so I think as long as we can learn something about us individually, we can take this forward into other races."
Smock and the Eagles will return to the course on Friday for the Royals XC Challenge in Charlotte, NC.
