ST. LOUIS – Illinois State standout Brittany Smith was among 10 student-athletes named to the Missouri Valley Conference Women's Field 25-Year Team, the league office announced Tuesday morning.
The 2017-18 season is a landmark one for the MVC and women's sports. To help celebrate the 45th anniversary of Title IX and the 25th anniversary of women's sports in the Valley, the league is naming 25th anniversary teams for each of the conference's sponsored women's sports.               Â
Team composition for each sport has been determined by a 25-person committee, including two representatives from each MVC institution and a panel of five voters from the Conference office. The team includes years in which the league teams competed under the MVC umbrella during the past 25 years (1992-2017) and does not include competition from the current season.
Smith is joined on the 25-year anniversary team by: Kylie Hutson (Indiana State), Felisha Johnson (Indiana State), Rachel Jansen (Northern Iowa), Paige Knodle (Northern Iowa), Jeneva McCall (Southern Illinois), DeAnna Price (Southern Illinois), Brittany Riley (Southern Illinois), Bianca Stuart (Southern Illinois), and Amarachi Ukabam (Southern Illinois).
Smith dominated the throwing circle at Illinois State from 2010-13. Over the course of her four years, she was a four-time NCAA runner-up, 10-time NCAA All-American, and two-time MVC Champion. Smith earned All-MVC honors 14 times, and was an 11-time MVC runner-up.
Smith made an immediate impact for the Redbirds during her freshman campaign in 2009-10, being named Illinois State's Female Athlete of the Year. She earned this award after garnering All-Valley honors in the shot put and discus at the 2010 MVC Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Smith would go on to compete at the NCAA Preliminary Round in the shot put, discus, and hammer throw. With her 13th place finish in the discus at NCAA prelims, Smith qualified for the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
In the summer of 2010, Smith was crowned the USA Junior Outdoor Track & Field Champion in the shot put, automatically qualifying her for the IAAF World Championships. She earned USATF All-American honors after placing seventh at the world championships.
Smith's accomplishments as a freshman were just a preview of what was to come over the next three years of her collegiate career. As a sophomore, Smith picked up three more All-MVC honors and earned her first NCAA All-American accolades. She finished third at the 2011 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in the shot put with a throw of 17.19m (56-04.75). During the 2011 outdoor campaign, Smith again qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, this time in the hammer throw. She placed ninth with a heave of 62.71m (205-9).
By the time Smith was a junior, she was unstoppable, earning All-MVC honors in every throwing event that she competed in during the indoor and outdoor seasons. She broke every ISU women's throwing record over the course of the indoor season. In addition to the indoor shot put record, Smith still sits atop ISU's top-10 list in the weight throw (21.51m/70-07.00), outdoor shot put (17.92m/58-09.50), and hammer throw (68.51m/224-09.00). She also ranks second all-time in the discus (55.15m/180-11).
During the 2011-12 campaign, Smith earned All-American accolades four times, and was named the NCAA runner-up in the hammer throw and shot put at the 2012 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The 16 points that she scored at the NCAA Championships between her two events single-handedly earned the Redbird women its highest finish on the national stage, placing 14th. Following the 2011-12 season. Smith was named to the Capital One Academic All-District V Women's Track & Field Team and USTFCCCA All-Academic Team.
After competing in the 2012 Olympic Team Trials, Smith would go on to have a fabulous senior outing. She was crowned the 2013 MVC Indoor Champion in the shot put and 2013 MVC Outdoor Champion in the hammer throw. Her indoor MVC title-winning shot put throw of 17.30m (56-09.25) is an ISU school record that still stands to this day. She also earned All-American status in both events at the 2013 NCAA Indoor Championships. At the 2013 NCAA Outdoor Championships, she defended her runner-up title in the shot put and the hammer throw, finishing second in both events for the second-straight year. By the end of the season, Smith was a 10-time All-American.
The 2018 Redbird men's and women's track and field teams will compete for an MVC Outdoor Track & Field title this weekend, May 11-13, when they travel to Terre Haute, Indiana, for the 2018 Valley Championships, hosted by Indiana State.
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