[ DIVISION II REPORT ]
COURTESY OF BYUH
Brigham Young-Hawaii's Chelsea Smith is the cross country runner to beat.
Smith having fun
as top dog
Everyone on the side of the road is running for a reason.
Some run for time to think, some run to get in shape.
Some, like Brigham Young-Hawaii cross country athlete Chelsea Smith, run for the best and most basic reason to do anything -- just for the fun of it.
Smith came from out of nowhere to take Hawaii Pacific's Nina Christensen's place as Hawaii's best, and it was never really a goal. The sophomore simply started running and doesn't plan to stop until the fun runs out.
"Running was always a punishment, but once you start it really becomes a reward," said Smith, who will be trying to earn a second trip to nationals tomorrow at Chino, Calif. "It's a good thing it is good for you or I'd really be in trouble."
At first glance, a skeptic's eye sees Smith as the greatest candidate for being in trouble. In just over a year, the 19-year-old has gone from being a chubby good-but-not-great high school runner to one of the most finely tuned athletes in NCAA Division II.
The thousands of athletes who have tried will tell you that you can't accomplish such a change without help, or everyone would be doing it. Smith admits that she has had help, but only in the form of a little education and a lot of road work. There are plenty of runners, even in Hawaii, who run themselves sick.
"That is one of the more annoying aspects of running," Smith said. "Some people are so competitive they will do anything to win."
Smith likes to win as much as anyone else, maybe because she is so new to the business. She never won a race in high school and walked on to the Seasiders' program with the hopes of finding someone to share her new hobby.
She has run since she was 12 years old, but never cared enough to excel at it and had nobody around her to see her potential except those in her immediate family. She was told to forget about joining BYU's team in Provo, Utah, because she would never be good enough.
Now she would be one of their top runners, but she would not even consider leaving the splendors of Hawaii for the greater competition a Division I school in Utah offers. Who knows, she may have burned herself out if she had taken the sport as seriously as those who are trying to use it to pay for college.
"In high school I only ran to be with my friends who ran," Smith said. "I wasn't very serious about it and cheated in workouts. For practice we would all run to my house to eat ice cream. I just didn't try very hard; I was more interested in other things."
But since Smith got hooked on running, there has been no stopping her. She walked on to Norman Kaluhiokalani's program and lost 30 pounds almost immediately. Not that the 5-foot-9, then-150-pounder had a weight problem. Though she does now.
Smith eats constantly, trying to keep weight on, and struggled to gain 10 pounds before the season in an attempt to fulfill people's expectations. Last year she was way down on the unspoken hierarchy of cross country runners. Now she is at the very top and expected to remain there.
"This is huge. I am so nervous I could really cry," Smith said about the regional. "There is a lot of pressure on me this year and it is not as much fun. But I have become pretty competitive. I don't care if I win by two minutes or two seconds. As long as I win."
Smith rose to the top when she surprised herself and everyone else last year at this time, running to a fourth-place finish in the regional and earning a spot at the national meet with Christensen. But none of it could have happened until she counted the 28-year-old wunderkind as her equal.
Christensen is Hawaii's reigning cross country legend, becoming an All-American twice before coming down with exercise-induced asthma. She is still Smith's greatest competition even though she has not beaten the youngster yet this year.
"Last year I didn't even know who she was, I only knew she was really super fast," Smith said. "Well, anyway, one time I was running next to her and heard someone yell, 'Go Nina' and thought, 'Oh my gosh. I'm not supposed to be able to run next to Nina,' and I actually slowed down. A lot of this is mental."
Smith has shaved a full minute off her time in each of the past three years and looks forward to hitting her peak. Since Smith became an elite runner, both of her parents and her younger sister, Meredith -- not to mention a boyfriend and others on the BYUH campus -- have picked up their paces considerably.
Smith already has a little practice at shutting it down. She is a relative unknown outside collegiate running circles because so many running events, including the Honolulu Marathon, that she would like to conquer, are scheduled for Sundays.
"Sunday is a day off. I get six days a week of running and it never even occurs to me to run," Smith said. "My relationship to God is very important to me. Running has given me so many things, but God is what my life is based on."
PacWest standings
x-eliminated from conference race
Conf GB Overall Pct BYU-Hawaii 9-0 -- 18-2 .900 Hawaii Pacific 6-3 3 15-5 .750 x-Chaminade 4-5 5 10-12 .455 x-Hawaii-Hilo 3-6 6 7-15 .318 x-Western N.M 3-6 6 16-13 .552 x-Montana St.-Billings 2-7 7 6-18 .250 REGIONAL POLL
Top six teams advance to regional tournament
HITTING PERCENTAGE
Overall Region 1. UC-San Diego 20-4 18-4 2. Western Washington 21-1 20-1 3. Cal State-San Bernardino 20-3 15-3 4. BYU-Hawaii 18-2 16-2 5. Cal State-Bakersfield 14-7 12-6 6. Hawaii Pacific 15-5 12-4 7. Cal State-Los Angeles 17-7 11-5 8. Chaminade 10-10 9-8 9. Alaska-Anchorage 14-8 9-8 10. Cal Poly Pomona 15-10 12-9
Minimum .200/3.0 attacks per game
G K E Tot Pct Chun Yi Lin, BYUH 67 295 36 560 .463 Barbara Martin, HPU 73 193 44 383 .389 Ashley Moeai, BYUH 67 264 71 537 .359 Nadica Karleusa, HPU 68 284 85 650 .306 Patti Hardimon, CU 76 228 82 528 .277 Yu Chuan Weng, BYUH 67 272 95 656 .270 Paula Nascimento, HPU 57 103 33 262 .267 Flavia Brakling, HPU 73 310 117 765 .252 Laree Green, WNMU 96 207 70 588 .233 Christina Cooley, UHH 54 100 41 276 .214
KILLS G K Avg. Kahala Kabalis, Chaminade 75 352 4.69 Chun Yi Lin, BYUH 67 295 4.40 Sara Pilgreen, Hilo 84 360 4.29 Flavia Brakling, HPU 73 310 4.25 Nadica Karleusa, HPU 68 284 4.18 Yu Chuan Weng, BYUH 67 272 4.06 Ashley Moeai, BYUH 67 264 3.94 Olivia Munro, MSUB 83 327 3.94 Valsai Sepulona, Chaminade 76 297 3.91 Silvia Oliveira, BYUH 40 142 3.55
ASSISTS G A Avg. Kaala Lo, BYUH 67 926 13.82 Vera Oliveira, HPU 66 778 11.79 Michelle Norman, Chaminade 76 881 11.59 Megan Denman, Hilo 67 664 9.91 Kari Jones, MSUB 66 635 9.62 Malia Kauhi, WNMU 86 743 8.64 Amy Goodnight, WNMU 56 430 7.68 Brittany Baum, Hilo 53 355 6.70
SERVICE ACES G No. Avg. Kaala Lo, BYUH 67 39 0.58 Paula Nascimento, HPU 57 29 0.51 Kahala Kabalis, Chaminade 75 38 0.51 Vera Oliveira, HPU 66 28 0.42 Yu Chuan Weng, BYUH 67 28 0.42 Shannon Hillier, Hilo 58 24 0.41 Nadica Karleusa, HPU 68 28 0.41 Patti Hardimon, Chaminade 76 31 0.41 Liz Narkon, WNMU 103 39 0.38 Flavia Brakling, HPU 73 27 0.37
BLOCKS G S A Tot. Avg. Chun Yi Lin, BYUH 67 27 50 77.0 1.15 Barbara Martin, HPU 73 14 69 83.0 1.14 Laree Green, WNMU 96 19 90 109.0 1.14 Katrina Dahlgren, MSUB 77 19 66 85.0 1.10 S.Bruchhauser, WNMU 102 12 97 109.0 1.07 Cortney Metzler, MSUB 81 10 71 81.0 1.00 Ashley Moeai, BYUH 67 14 47 61.0 0.91 Nadica Karleusa, HPU 68 12 49 61.0 0.90 Cori Sutter, Hilo 80 6 63 69.0 0.86 Sandra Beal, MSUB 58 2 39 41.0 0.71
DIGS G No. Avg. Kahealani Silva, Hilo 82 350 4.27 Sara Pilgreen, Hilo 84 330 3.93 Alberta Letoa, MSUB 83 301 3.63 Frederica Tonon, BYUH 40 142 3.55 Kalae Araujo, Chaminade 75 264 3.52 Silvia Oliveira, BYUH 40 134 3.35 Olivia Munro, MSUB 83 273 3.29 Yu Chuan Weng, BYUH 67 217 3.24 Kim Tano, WNMU 107 326 3.05 Kaala Lo, BYUH 67 198 2.96
