{"id":53305,"date":"2018-11-01T10:59:04","date_gmt":"2018-11-01T17:59:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=53305"},"modified":"2018-11-01T17:02:48","modified_gmt":"2018-11-02T00:02:48","slug":"michael-smith-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/michael-smith-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Runaway success: NAU cross country coach brings home Big Sky Coach of the Year award"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Smith<\/strong> has another trophy for his case.<\/p>\n

The Northern Arizona University\u2019s director of cross country and track & field<\/a> was named the Big Sky Conference Men\u2019s Cross Country Coach of the Year for the 2018 season. The Lumberjack men have placed first at every single event in which they competed this season.<\/p>\n

This is Smith\u2019s 10th Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year award and the 25th<\/sup>\u00a0time an NAU coach has won the men\u2019s cross country version of the award. He credited the rest of the team\u2019s staff, including assistant coaches Becca DeLoache<\/strong> and Jarred Cornfield<\/strong>, for the team\u2019s continuing success.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe success of NAU cross country and the entire program would not be possible without the tireless work of coaches and the support staff,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThe Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year award is shared with all those who work behind the scenes to train, mentor and care for the bodies and minds of our student-athletes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since Smith took the role of head of the NAU program in the spring of 2017, he has garnered an impressive list of accomplishments within the conference and on the national level. In 2017 Smith earned the award for men\u2019s and women\u2019s indoor track & field, women\u2019s outdoor track & field and both men\u2019s and women\u2019s cross country.<\/p>\n

Also in 2017, he was named the National Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year. Smith has also been named the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association’s (USTFCCCA) Mountain Region Coach of the Year twice on the women’s side during indoors in 2017 and 2018. He collected the same USTFCCCA Mountain Region award for the 2017 women\u2019s outdoor team.<\/p>\n

The 2018 campaign ended with Smith taking all four Big Sky Coach of the Year awards for indoor and outdoor track & field for the men\u2019s and women\u2019s squads.<\/p>\n

Senior All-American long-distance runners Peter Lomong<\/strong> and Matt Baxter<\/strong> said Smith\u2019s leadership has helped the team rise to the level that it has. The Lumberjacks are among the favorites to win their third straight NCAA Division I men\u2019s national title at Nationals in Wisconsin on Nov. 17.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoach Smith has made a huge impact in my life,\u201d Lomong said. \u201cHe has made me a better athlete and student. One thing that inspires me the most about his work effort is the way he wakes up between 2-3 a.m. every morning to read our running logs. He is deserving of Coach of the Year for things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSmith has brought this program to another level,\u201d Baxter added. \u201cBoth our men\u2019s and women\u2019s programs are doing special things under his guidance. He deserves every award and piece of recognition that comes his way.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the 2018 Big Sky Cross Country Championships, NAU runners took the top four spots at the men\u2019s event, with Baxter taking first place. The women\u2019s team had a strong showing, taking second place as a team at the event.<\/p>\n

The men\u2019s and women\u2019s cross country teams are preparing for the NCAA Division I Mountain Regionals in Provo, Utah, on Nov. 9. The NAU men\u2019s team will be running against top-tier programs like BYU, University of Colorado, Air Force and Colorado State. On the women\u2019s end they will see defending champions New Mexico, Colorado, BYU and Big Sky rival Southern Utah.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuccess starts from the top,\u201d DeLoache said. \u201cCoach Smith creates a culture amongst the team of hard work, accountability, respect and love. His leadership prepares each athlete to find, reach and continually surpass their limit. This is done not only through the training he provides but the environment he fosters allowing each athlete to thrive. He no doubt deserves this award and I am honored to work beside him every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Smith has another trophy for his case. The Northern Arizona University\u2019s director of cross country and track & field was named the Big Sky Conference Men\u2019s Cross Country Coach of the Year for the 2018 season. The Lumberjack men have placed first at every single event in which they competed this season. This is…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":53306,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}