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Smith
excels on, off the greens
By
Nick Hurm
Photo Editor
The
Waynesville high school golf team was looking for a
good man to make their squad as strong as possible —
they never found one. Instead they found a good woman.
A
5-foot-5-inch competitor who could rarely be seen without
a smile on her face. Shannon Smith might not sound intimidating,
but by the end of 18 holes many guys were watching out
for her smooth stroke. Her teammate Jason Beam remembers.
“No
one cared that she was a girl, we were all happy because
she was good,” Beam said. “I think opponents
thought they were going to put it to her when they played.
After playing a couple rounds with her, they knew what
was up.”
The
scary part was that Smith picked golf up as a hobby.
Before high school, she wasn’t really that interested
in the sport. It was in her blood though. Her grandparents
as well as her dad are all avid golfers.
By
the time Smith graduated high school, she earned enough
accolades to be well respected around the state. She
finished ninth overall in the state tournament after
wining the sectional meet and finishing second in the
district competition. She also earned titles as first
team All-Cincinnati honors and second team all-state.
“It
meant a lot to get those honors, because I worked my
butt off to get there,” Smith said. “I really
wanted to play in college too so working hard helped
get me there.”
After
high school, Smith did something a little different
than what she was used to—she joined a women’s
golf team. The sport that Smith wasn’t interested
in until high school would now continue through college
at the University.
“It
was far enough away from home for me and I really liked
the schedule for golf that BG plays,” Smith said.
“We go to Florida for spring break and play other
teams that have a little more money in their program
like Penn State.”
Smith
said other reasons she chose the Univeristy was because
she liked coach Kurt Thomas and she was already familiar
with Shannon Sharp, one of the Falcon players she knew
from back home.
It
was during her freshman year that Sharp and teammate
Missy Hinds helped convince Smith to not only join them
as teammates, but also as sorority sisters. While Smith
was getting ready to compete in her first season of
collegiate golf, she was also pledging Kappa Kappa Gamma.
“Both
Shannon and Missy were in Kappa and I really liked it,”
Smith said. “It’s nice to be around girls
that don’t care if I shoot a 90 or a 70. It’s
great because they just come out to our tournaments
and cheer for us.”
While
Smith was pledging Kappa she also got a strong 13-place
finish at the Mid-American Conference Championship,
while shoting a season low 77. All this while maintaining
a 3.53 grade-point average. These are all tasks that
keep Smith busy, but she doesn’t mind.
“I’m
not one of those people that can just sit around and
do nothing,” Smith said. “I like being busy.
This year I have a little more time because I’m
only taking 12 credit hours, but I don’t sleep
in. I still have 8 a.m. classes.”
Now
in her senior year, Smith still tries to stay as active
as possible in golf and in Greek life. Last season she
was named to the MAC Academic Honor Roll.
“I
lived in the house last year and now I still try to
get over there as much as I can,” Smith said. “The
girls are fun to be around. I stay as involved as possible.”
On
a side note, Smith is not the only University golfer
in a sorority. Teammates Stephanie Elzie and Carrie
Evans are also in sorority members. Elzie is an Alpha
Phi and Evans joined Alpha Chi Omega.
“We
are all still very connected,” Smith said. “We
all chose different sororities for different reasons,
but we are all very good friends.”
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