Oklahoma State University Athletics
Running Past The Competition
September 22, 1999 | Cowgirl Cross Country & Track
Sept. 22, 1999
By Adana Conway
O'Collegian Sports Editor
When the century's list of Oklahoma State's Top 100 athletes is drawn up, one of the names included in the grouping must belong to one of OSU's top women's cross country athletes.
There is simply no way to run around it.
Listed among Oklahoma State talented student-athletes like Barry Sanders and Bryant Reeves, Hanna Smedstad's name is a shoo-in and if last weekend's performance is any indication of excellence, no one will stand in her way for the remainder of the 1999 Cowgirls' cross country season.
Last Saturday, at the SMU Invitational in Dallas, Smedstad posted a career-best 16:58 over the 3.1 mile course and bested her nearest opponent, TCU's running-star Gladys Keitany by 11 seconds.
Two weekend's earlier, Smedstad was the first over the finish line at 2.8 mile Lori Fitzgerald Memorial Invitational in Santa Teresa, N.M., with a time of 17:05.
Named as the first Big 12 Runner of the Week by the Big 12 Conference for the 1999 cross country season, the senior psychology major just smiled and said it was nice to be recognized by the conference.
"I appreciate it," Smedstad said, adding she also enjoys seeing her team place high at cross country meets. "I love to run, and receiving awards and honors like this just brings my team into the spotlight."
It is the third time in her career at Oklahoma State she has been named Big 12's Runner of the Week.
Smedstad, 23, a native of Sweden, grew up in the town of Sundsvall, which is near the country's east coast.
Like the majority of the town's children, Smedstad grew up participating in both cross country skiing and running as well as the sport of orienteering, which engages a compass and a map and the woods near her home.
"Orienteering is a fun sport, challenging," she said. "I rather enjoyed it when I was a kid and so did most of my friends."
She said she always knew she had a talent for running, and by the time she was a teenager, she was running faster and farther than most and often finished ahead of everyone else in area races - something she still does today.
In fact, she has out-distanced all of her Oklahoma State teammates, coming across the finish line first ahead of the other OSU runners in all seven meets last season as well as the first two meets of the new season.
When Smedstad was 16 years old, she said she had the opportunity to attend a high school which offered both a cross country and a track team. However, the school was a little more than 560 miles away from her home.
"It was a tremendous distance from home, but I still went because at home I was only running with nearby clubs and my (local) high school didn't have a cross country team for me to join, like most high schools here do," she said.
She said the three years away were good because she was able to develop her running and in her senior year, she finished fourth in the Swedish Championship.
It was through a magazine article about her successful high school career, OSU head coach Catrina Acosta was introduced to Smedstad's talent.
"I had read about her and how well she did in Sweden and I tried to get ahold of her but found out she had graduated and had moved away," said OSU's seven-year head coach, adding she had tried twice a month for about a year to get ahold of Smedstad to see if she wanted to come to Oklahoma State and run for the Cowgirls.
Smedstad explained, "I had graduated from high school in '95 and then moved to England to be with my family who had moved there after I had gone to run on the high school's teams."
She continued, "In England, I was working at a hotel as a receptionist and I got word coach Acosta was trying to get ahold of me. When I finally got to talk with her, she offered me the chance to come and run here at OSU."
Smedstad said she had never considered coming to the U.S. on a runner's scholarship and had thought of going to college in England but the offer made by coach Acosta was too good to pass up.
"When we finally got to talk with each other, it was at the right time," Smedstad said who begins her fourth year at Oklahoma State. "I would have gone to the university in England, but I would have never been able to run on their cross country teams because they don't provide scholarships for runners like the U.S. colleges do. I would have had to run with a club."
Additionally, she said she had heard that another Swede, Jessica Franzen, was on the OSU team roster as well as another Swedish runner who was going to be an incoming freshman at the same time as Smedstad.
"It was nice to have someone from my country to be here when I got here in 1996," she said, adding she had no problems settling into college life, let alone the demands of a student-athlete. "Jessica really helped me get adjusted to everything here in Stillwater as well as my coach - everyone has made it easy for me be able to concentrate on my training."
Smedstad not only runs cross country, she is also a member of both the indoor and outdoor track teams.
"But I do hate to miss my classes though," said OSU's only cross country Academic All-American in the past nine years. "Sometimes when we have to travel to a meet and I have to miss class, it's hard to catch up sometimes but most of my professors have been helpful."
Smedstad said Oklahoma is a lot different than her native country Sweden and said "the heat and humidity are two things my country just doesn't have."
But she added, although the people here are friendlier than the people back home, she still is wrestling with homesickness.
"I miss the ocean the most - especially since I've always been near one all my life," she said. "But I've got a lot of friends here who help me when I get homesick - especially, my teammates."
Her training routine, she said, keeps not only her but also her fellow teammates out running a variety of short and long distances.
The routine also includes a twice-a-week regiment of both swimming and weight lifting programs, she said.
"We train six days a week, but we do it as a group and not individually like a lot of people think we do," Smedstad said. "Being able to run and workout as a group helps build team spirit which helps us both physically and mentally."
Acosta said she has seen Smedstad mature not only as an athlete but also as a person.
"I have seen her develop confidence that wasn't there when she first arrived," Acosta said. "She has grown into a fine young woman, and she is a leader for the rest of her teammates."
Acosta added, "I see Hanna work with the younger runners every day and I see them return the respect back. I'm glad she came to Oklahoma State. She has been nothing short of awesome."
Smedstad said she will never see the day when she would ever stop running, adding "Why would I want to stop? I enjoy it too much."
And why should she? Running to her is like breathing to the rest of us.
To stop would be unnatural.
