An alumna from Salida High School, Quinn Smith, is now a junior at Elon University in North Carolina. She graduated from the high school in 2023 and is now continuing her running career in cross country and track and field as a Division One athlete.

Her story is one of many examples of the varying challenges and accomplishments that come with choosing a college lifestyle as rigorous as a D1 athlete. Smith is majoring in exercise science with a minor in biology. She has to balance being a high level athlete and student including training, academics and keeping up with daily and social life on campus. She said her overall college experience as a student and an athlete has been great so far and she loves the community at Elon, as well as the challenge of being both an athlete and a student. 

A typical day for Smith consists of practice in the morning from 7AM to 9AM, and class from 11AM to 3:45PM. Some days her team has a lift after class or a double workout. After her day, she usually has dinner with her team and does homework after dinner. Smith remarked, “It’s a lot to balance, but my team makes everything fun, and it’s great to spend time with them.” 

This schedule demonstrates how a D1 athlete needs to be focused and disciplined with their time. Smith said the biggest adjustment from being a high school athlete to a college one was mainly the level of competition and the major jump in talent. She went from wanting to win every race in high school to running against some of the best runners in the NCAA. Smith said this was a very humbling experience, and though it’s challenging, she still finds it exciting and inspiring to line up next to the athletes she’s looked up to for years. 

Her proudest moment in the sport so far has been winning the 1500 in the CAA conference meet. This meant a lot to her because this race was very competitive, and she did not go in as the favorite. She said, “I told myself I just needed to score for the team which is top 8. I stayed in the middle of the pack and then in the last 150 meters I kicked to win the race.”  Even though she had felt horrible before the race and had been throwing up, she persisted. The year before, she hadn’t even made the final, so helping her team win the CAA for their track conference was especially meaningful. 

Smith explained that the time commitment is one thing that would surprise most people about D1 training. “It’s not just practice—it’s going to get treatment when you’re injured, lifting, team meetings, traveling for meets and everything else,” she said. 

Balancing academics with athletics is definitely a big obstacle in college, especially during peak training and heavy travel weeks, but she deals with the stress by having a really good teacher who extends deadlines and helps her stay on top of work. She also ends up doing a lot of work on the bus, especially when her team is on nine-hour trips. 

Smith said the toughest challenge for her so far in college was the end of freshman year because it was really hard to go from being good in high school to just like everyone else. She was not performing how she had expected and developed a back injury that made it painful to run. She said it got to be very overwhelming and lonely, and she was a long way away from any family, which made it even harder. It can be difficult to make time for friends and campus life when your schedule is already so busy, but she ensures she does by hanging out and doing activities with her team outside of running, like dinner and movie nights. She also lives with her two best friends, so it is easy for her to go over to their room and hang out. 

Outside of training, her favorite things to do are to spend time with her team or boyfriend, and she also loves going to watch soccer games. This provides a crucial break for rest and relaxation in Smith’s typical day. 

To stay healthy and competition-ready, she focuses on mental and physical recovery, including stretching, ice baths, staying hydrated, resting and taking time for fun activities. She said, “It’s easy to get overwhelmed and feel like you shouldn’t take a break and should be studying but it’s so important to go to the movies or just take a night off.” 

These breaks help her stay energized and excited, instead of getting sucked into the sometimes dull routine of life. Looking ahead, her goals for the year are to go to the NCAA regionals for the 1500 and to set a personal record in the mile. As a team, they want to win all three championships for the CAA since they just recently won cross country and have indoor track and outdoor track next. 

Looking farther into the future, Smith’s long-term goals for running and beyond college are to go to school to be a Physician Assistant, travel and continue to run. She is thinking about doing a marathon in the future. When looking back, one thing Smith wishes she had known before becoming a collegiate athlete is, “Put yourself out there and start reaching out to coaches, you don’t know if you don’t try. I emailed so many schools—some never got back to me—but I ended up finding one I loved that I never thought I would.” Her journey is a reminder to all students that college life is full of challenges and adjustments, but also full of small victories and accomplishments.