The University of Mississippi Athletics
Connie Price-Smith Elected to USTFCCCA Coaches Hall of Fame Class of 2024
8/6/2024 | Cross Country, Track and Field
NEW ORLEANS – Ole Miss track & field and cross country head coach Connie Price-Smith has been elected to the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame as part of its Class of 2024, the USTFCCCA announced on Tuesday afternoon.
Price-Smith enters the Hall of Fame alongside Dave Cianelli, Frank Gramarosso, Ron Helmer, Jud Logan and Ford Matsin. All will be officially enshrined at the 2024 USTFCCCA Coaches Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Tues., Dec. 17, at the USTFCCCA Convention, held at the Grande Lakes Resort in Orlando, Florida.
Price-Smith is in her 10th season in charge of the Ole Miss program and her 24th overall as a collegiate head coach when adding in her prior 14 seasons at her alma mater, Southern Illinois. In total, Price-Smith has led her teams to 42 NCAA top-25 finishes, won 22 NCAA titles (28 total champions), coached 21 NCAA runners-up, mentored 244 First or Second-Team All-Americans, scored 609 points at the national meets, coached 282 total conference champions and won 14 total conference titles – including the first two in Ole Miss combined program history.
Success as a coach came naturally to Price-Smith after a brilliant 15-year professional career as the best American women's thrower of her era. During her decade-and-a-half career as a world-class thrower, Price-Smith was a 25-time U.S. champion in the shot put and discus and a member of 34 international U.S. squads. She participated in four Olympic Games – 2000 (Sydney), 1996 (Atlanta), 1992 (Barcelona) and 1988 (Seoul) – with a best finish of fifth in the shot put at the 1996 Atlanta Games, the best by an American woman since 1960.
Price-Smith is no stranger to coaching on the international stage, either. She was the head women's coach for Team USA at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, as well as at the 2011 IAAF World Championships (Daegu, South Korea), the 2013 World University Games (Kazan, Russia) and the 2007 Pan American Games (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). She served as an assistant coach at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics, as well as the 2004 World Junior Championships (Grosseto, Italy), the 2005 World Indoor Championships (Budapest, Hungary) and with the U.S. 2006 World Cup Team (Athens, Greece).
Since arriving in Oxford on July 21, 2015, Price-Smith and her staff have led the Rebels to new heights, winning 14 NCAA individual titles (20 champions), 14 NCAA runners-up, 172 First or Second-Team All-Americans, 380 NCAA points, 76 SEC individual champions and a bevy of the best team finishes in program history at both the SEC and NCAA levels. The Ole Miss men earned the first two SEC titles in program history in cross country back-to-back in 2018 and 2019 and numerous teams have set new program record conference and national finishes – highlighted by an overall record fourth-place finish by the men's cross country team in 2016 and two fifth-place track finishes by the Rebel women in 2024. In total, her Rebel teams have reset the highest SEC finishes in program history in five of the six possible seasons among cross country, indoor track and outdoor track.
Nationally it's been a similar story, with Ole Miss recording 31 total top-25 team finishes across both the track (14) and cross country (17) seasons. Six of the nine all-time NCAA top-10 track finishes in Ole Miss history have come within the last three years: 2024 women's outdoor (5th), 2024 women's indoor (5th), 2023 women's indoor (10th), 2022 women's indoor (T-6th), 2022 men's indoor (T-10th) and 2021 men's indoor (10th).
Most recently, Price-Smith's teams put together arguably the best all-around season in the history of Ole Miss track & field, with all four teams (men and women, indoor and outdoor) finishing within the national top-25. Leading that charge were the Rebel women, who finished a program-record fifth both indoors and outdoors. At the indoor national meet, Jalani Davis successfully defended her national title in the women's weight throw, while McKenzie Long was the runner-up in the 200-meter dash. Outdoors, Long and the Rebel sprinters put on a clinic, winning three national titles in the span of just 90 minutes. Long – an eventual Olympian for Team USA – became one of six women in Division I history to sweep the 100 and 200 while also running on a winning 4x100-meter relay team, and she clocked the second-fastest 200-meter time in collegiate history at her winning best of 21.83 (+1.0).
On the men's side, the continued dominance of underclassman Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan propelled the Rebel men to two national top-25 finishes. Robinson-O'Hagan swept the men's shot put national titles indoors and outdoors, becoming one of 17 in Division I history to do so and the fourth-youngest to ever complete the sweep -- the youngest overall since 1989.
NCAA Champions during Price-Smith's time at Ole Miss include: Long (2024 outdoor: 100-meter, 200-meter, 4x100-meter relay with Akilah Lewis, Gabrielle Matthews and Jahniya Bowers); Davis (2023 indoor: women's weight throw; 2024 indoor: women's weight throw); Robinson-O'Hagan (2024 outdoor: men's shot put; 2024 indoor: men's shot put); Sintayehu Vissa (2022 outdoor: women's 1500-meter); Mario Garcia Romo (2022 indoor: men's 1500-meter); Shey Taiwo (2022 indoor: women's weight throw); Janeah Stewart (2018 outdoor: women's hammer); the 2017 men's distance medley relay of Robert Domanic, Nick DeRay, Sean Tobin and Craig Engels; and Raven Saunders (2017 indoor: women's shot put; 2016 outdoor: women's shot put). Of those national champs, Long, Vissa, Garcia Romo and Saunders have all become Olympians.
After her professional career, Price-Smith began her coaching career as a volunteer assistant at Ohio State with her husband, John, before heading home to Southern Illinois – first as the women's head coach from 2002-04 and then as head coach of the combined program from 2005-15.
The Salukis were a nationally prominent track program under her watch, as she led SIU to 11 NCAA top-25 team finishes, eight NCAA titles, seven NCAA runners-up, 229 NCAA points scored and 72 total First or Second-Team All-Americans. Southern was a conference powerhouse under her leadership as well, winning six Missouri Valley team titles on the track and coaching 206 MVC Champions and 19 MVC Most Valuable Athletes. In her time in Carbondale, Price-Smith was named MVC Coach of the Year six times.
Price-Smith also helped lead a successful cross country program, winning six MVC team titles, four individual MVC titles and two All-America awards – both from Jeff Schirmer across 2008 and 2009.
Of those 11 top-25 national team finishes on the track, two standout seasons in 2010 and 2015 helped put the Salukis on the map as one of the best throwing programs in collegiate history. In 2010, the Saluki quartet of Gwen Berry, Jeneva McCall, Olga Ciura and Sasha Leeth became the first foursome in collegiate history to score in the same women's hammer competition – helping propel the SIU women to a ninth-place finish.
In 2015, Southern had one of its best all-around seasons in program history, with the Saluki women finishing ninth indoors and 12th outdoors. Leading that charge were two national shot put titles from star freshman (and future Ole Miss Rebel and three-time Olympian) Raven Saunders, as well as a hammer title from fellow future three-time Olympian, DeAnna Price.
In addition to Saunders and Price in 2015, other NCAA champions Price-Smith mentored at SIU were Jeneva McCall (2010 outdoor, discus; 2012 indoor, weight throw; 2012 outdoor, hammer) and Brittany Riley (2007 and 2008 indoor, weight throw). National runners-up included: J.C. Lambert (2012 indoor, weight throw); McCall (2011 outdoor, hammer; 2012 indoor, shot put); Riley (2007 and 2008 outdoor, hammer); and Amarachi Ukabam (2006 indoor, weight).
Price-Smith graduated from SIU in 1985, but only competed in track & field her senior year after an outstanding four-year college basketball career. She still ranks among the school's all-time leaders with 1,271 points and 744 rebounds, while she maintains the single-season record for best field goal percentage at .650, which led the nation her junior year.
At the urging of SIU track & field standout John Smith, whom she married in 1990 and now coaches alongside, Price-Smith threw the shot put for the first time as a senior and quickly became dominant in both the shot and discus, winning MVC indoor and outdoor titles in the shot in 1985 before embarking on her remarkable professional career.
A 1990 Saluki Hall of Fame inductee, Price-Smith also received the SIU Distinguished Alumni Award in 2001 and was named the Administrative/Professional Woman of Distinction in 2007. She was also selected for induction to the Drake Relays Hall of Fame in 2003 and the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame in 2012 as an Institutional Great. In 2014, Price-Smith was enshrined into the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame, and she was inducted into the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame in 2016.
Price-Smith is also revered as a leader in the collegiate and professional coaching circles, having served time as both the President of the USTFCCCA and the chair of the NCAA track & field committee in addition to numerous other leadership positions related to the administration and advancement of collegiate and American track & field.
Connie Price-Smith Coaching Career • By the Numbers (2001-Present)
• 42 NCAA Top-25 team finishes (31 at Ole Miss, 11 at SIU)
• 28 NCAA Champions (22 titles)
• 21 NCAA Runners-Up (14 at Ole Miss, 7 at SIU)
• 244 First or Second-Team All-Americans (172 at Ole Miss, 72 at SIU)
• 609 NCAA Points (380 at Ole Miss, 229 at SIU)
• 282 Conference Champions (206 MVC Champions at SIU, 76 SEC Champions at Ole Miss)
• 8 Conference Team Titles (6 at SIU, 2 at Ole Miss)
Ole Miss Under Connie Price-Smith (2015-Present) • 10th Season
• 31 NCAA Top-25 team finishes (17 in track, 14 in cross country)
• 20 NCAA Champions (14 titles)
• 14 NCAA Runners-Up
• 172 First or Second-Team All-Americans
• 380 NCAA Points
• 76 SEC Champions
• SEC record finishes: men's XC (1st, 2x), women's XC (2nd, 3x), men's indoor (3rd, 2x), women's indoor (T-4th, 2023), women's outdoor (4th, 2023)
• NCAA record finishes: women's outdoor (5th, 2024), women's indoor (5th, 2024), men's XC (4th, 2016), women's XC (10th, 2022)
• Six of the nine all-time NCAA top-10 finishes in Ole Miss history have come within the last three calendar years: 2024 women's outdoor (5th), 2024 women's indoor (5th), 2023 women's indoor (10th), 2022 women's indoor (T-6th), 2022 men's indoor (T-10th), 2021 men's indoor (10th), 2013 men's outdoor (8th), 2001 men's indoor (10th) and 1991 men's indoor (9th).
Connie Price-Smith SIU Coaching Career Highlights (2001-15)
• Saluki Track and Field head coach from 2004-15; Saluki Women's Track and Field coach from 2001-04
• Six-time MVC Coach of the Year (2005 & 2009 indoor, 2009 & 2010 outdoor, 2012 indoor, 2015 outdoor)
• Six MVC team championships (2005 & 2009 women's indoor, 2009 & 2010 women's outdoor, 2012 men's indoor, 2015 men's outdoor)
• Scored 229 NCAA points (112.5 indoor, 116.5 outdoor)
• Coached 72 All-Americans (51 First-Team), eight NCAA national champions and seven NCAA runners-up
• Coached 206 MVC champions and 19 MVC Most Valuable Athletes
• 11 NCAA top-25 team finishes
• Six MVC Cross Country titles (five men, one women), four MVC individual cross country champions, and two All-Americans (Jeff Schirmer, 2008 and 2009)
Connie Price-Smith Track and Field Career Highlights
• Four-time Olympian (1988, 1992, 1996, 2000)
• Finished fifth in the shot put in 1996, four and one-half inches away from a bronze medal
• 1996 finish was the highest for an American in the shot since 1960 (Earlene Brown, third, Rome)
• Her fifth-place throw of 63-0.5 was the longest throw ever by an American in the Olympics
• Ended her career as one of only 14 female athletes and one of only 30 US athletes of either gender ever to compete in four Olympiads
• Five-time Olympic Trials champion (three shot put titles, two discus titles)
• Won every U.S. shot put title from 1992-99
• Made every U.S. team for 15 years from her first season in 1987
• In total, owns 18 USA outdoor national titles, seven indoor titles
• Ended career with more national titles in the throws than any woman in U.S. history (25)
• Set the USATF National Outdoor meet record in the shot put (19.60m/64-03.75)
• In 1992, became the first woman to win both the shot put and discus at the Olympic Trials in 32 years (1960, Earlene Brown)
• No thrower has doubled at the Olympic trials since
• First woman to double (win both SP and DT) at national meet in 30 years; did so three times (1990, 1993, 1994)
• Best female doubler in U.S. history, 15th-best ever in the world
• First American woman to be world-ranked in six consecutive seasons
• Seven-time international medalist (Pan-American Games (4x), IAAF World Championships (1x), IAAF World Cup (1x), Goodwill Games (1x))
• 12-time IAAF World Championship qualifier
• 1995 silver medalist at the IAAF Indoor World Championships (shot put)
• 1995 WC medal was and is the highest medal for an American woman ever in the shot put; first since 1960 (Earlene Brown)
• Only American thrower to ever make seven Grand Prix Finals
• In the shot put, made 76 throws over 19 meters (62-05.00) and five over 64 feet
• In the discus, made 48 throws over 200 feet and nine over 210 feet
• Shot put personal best: 19.60m (64-03.75)
• Discus personal best: 64.82m (212-08)
Connie Price-Smith Basketball Career Highlights
• Was a member of the Saluki women's basketball team from 1980-84
• Her junior season (1982-83), she led the nation in field goal percentage at .650 -- an all-time SIU single-season record
• Ranked tied for sixth all-time in scoring (1,271)
• Fifth all-time in field goal percentage (.571)
• Seventh all-time in rebounding (744)
Awards and Honors
• USTFCCCA Coaches Hall of Fame (2024)
• President of the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (2017)
• USATF Hall of Fame (2016)
• St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame (2014)
• MVC Hall of Fame (2012)
• Drake Relays Hall of Fame (2003)
• Saluki Hall of Fame (1990)
• SIU Distinguished Alumni Award (2001)
• SIU Administrative/Professional Woman of Distinction (2007)
• In 2013, Lew Hartzog Track and Field Complex and Connie Price-Smith Throws Area were dedicated, the first facility on SIU's campus named after an African-American female
Price-Smith enters the Hall of Fame alongside Dave Cianelli, Frank Gramarosso, Ron Helmer, Jud Logan and Ford Matsin. All will be officially enshrined at the 2024 USTFCCCA Coaches Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Tues., Dec. 17, at the USTFCCCA Convention, held at the Grande Lakes Resort in Orlando, Florida.
Price-Smith is in her 10th season in charge of the Ole Miss program and her 24th overall as a collegiate head coach when adding in her prior 14 seasons at her alma mater, Southern Illinois. In total, Price-Smith has led her teams to 42 NCAA top-25 finishes, won 22 NCAA titles (28 total champions), coached 21 NCAA runners-up, mentored 244 First or Second-Team All-Americans, scored 609 points at the national meets, coached 282 total conference champions and won 14 total conference titles – including the first two in Ole Miss combined program history.
Success as a coach came naturally to Price-Smith after a brilliant 15-year professional career as the best American women's thrower of her era. During her decade-and-a-half career as a world-class thrower, Price-Smith was a 25-time U.S. champion in the shot put and discus and a member of 34 international U.S. squads. She participated in four Olympic Games – 2000 (Sydney), 1996 (Atlanta), 1992 (Barcelona) and 1988 (Seoul) – with a best finish of fifth in the shot put at the 1996 Atlanta Games, the best by an American woman since 1960.
Price-Smith is no stranger to coaching on the international stage, either. She was the head women's coach for Team USA at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, as well as at the 2011 IAAF World Championships (Daegu, South Korea), the 2013 World University Games (Kazan, Russia) and the 2007 Pan American Games (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). She served as an assistant coach at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics, as well as the 2004 World Junior Championships (Grosseto, Italy), the 2005 World Indoor Championships (Budapest, Hungary) and with the U.S. 2006 World Cup Team (Athens, Greece).
Since arriving in Oxford on July 21, 2015, Price-Smith and her staff have led the Rebels to new heights, winning 14 NCAA individual titles (20 champions), 14 NCAA runners-up, 172 First or Second-Team All-Americans, 380 NCAA points, 76 SEC individual champions and a bevy of the best team finishes in program history at both the SEC and NCAA levels. The Ole Miss men earned the first two SEC titles in program history in cross country back-to-back in 2018 and 2019 and numerous teams have set new program record conference and national finishes – highlighted by an overall record fourth-place finish by the men's cross country team in 2016 and two fifth-place track finishes by the Rebel women in 2024. In total, her Rebel teams have reset the highest SEC finishes in program history in five of the six possible seasons among cross country, indoor track and outdoor track.
Nationally it's been a similar story, with Ole Miss recording 31 total top-25 team finishes across both the track (14) and cross country (17) seasons. Six of the nine all-time NCAA top-10 track finishes in Ole Miss history have come within the last three years: 2024 women's outdoor (5th), 2024 women's indoor (5th), 2023 women's indoor (10th), 2022 women's indoor (T-6th), 2022 men's indoor (T-10th) and 2021 men's indoor (10th).
Most recently, Price-Smith's teams put together arguably the best all-around season in the history of Ole Miss track & field, with all four teams (men and women, indoor and outdoor) finishing within the national top-25. Leading that charge were the Rebel women, who finished a program-record fifth both indoors and outdoors. At the indoor national meet, Jalani Davis successfully defended her national title in the women's weight throw, while McKenzie Long was the runner-up in the 200-meter dash. Outdoors, Long and the Rebel sprinters put on a clinic, winning three national titles in the span of just 90 minutes. Long – an eventual Olympian for Team USA – became one of six women in Division I history to sweep the 100 and 200 while also running on a winning 4x100-meter relay team, and she clocked the second-fastest 200-meter time in collegiate history at her winning best of 21.83 (+1.0).
On the men's side, the continued dominance of underclassman Tarik Robinson-O'Hagan propelled the Rebel men to two national top-25 finishes. Robinson-O'Hagan swept the men's shot put national titles indoors and outdoors, becoming one of 17 in Division I history to do so and the fourth-youngest to ever complete the sweep -- the youngest overall since 1989.
NCAA Champions during Price-Smith's time at Ole Miss include: Long (2024 outdoor: 100-meter, 200-meter, 4x100-meter relay with Akilah Lewis, Gabrielle Matthews and Jahniya Bowers); Davis (2023 indoor: women's weight throw; 2024 indoor: women's weight throw); Robinson-O'Hagan (2024 outdoor: men's shot put; 2024 indoor: men's shot put); Sintayehu Vissa (2022 outdoor: women's 1500-meter); Mario Garcia Romo (2022 indoor: men's 1500-meter); Shey Taiwo (2022 indoor: women's weight throw); Janeah Stewart (2018 outdoor: women's hammer); the 2017 men's distance medley relay of Robert Domanic, Nick DeRay, Sean Tobin and Craig Engels; and Raven Saunders (2017 indoor: women's shot put; 2016 outdoor: women's shot put). Of those national champs, Long, Vissa, Garcia Romo and Saunders have all become Olympians.
After her professional career, Price-Smith began her coaching career as a volunteer assistant at Ohio State with her husband, John, before heading home to Southern Illinois – first as the women's head coach from 2002-04 and then as head coach of the combined program from 2005-15.
The Salukis were a nationally prominent track program under her watch, as she led SIU to 11 NCAA top-25 team finishes, eight NCAA titles, seven NCAA runners-up, 229 NCAA points scored and 72 total First or Second-Team All-Americans. Southern was a conference powerhouse under her leadership as well, winning six Missouri Valley team titles on the track and coaching 206 MVC Champions and 19 MVC Most Valuable Athletes. In her time in Carbondale, Price-Smith was named MVC Coach of the Year six times.
Price-Smith also helped lead a successful cross country program, winning six MVC team titles, four individual MVC titles and two All-America awards – both from Jeff Schirmer across 2008 and 2009.
Of those 11 top-25 national team finishes on the track, two standout seasons in 2010 and 2015 helped put the Salukis on the map as one of the best throwing programs in collegiate history. In 2010, the Saluki quartet of Gwen Berry, Jeneva McCall, Olga Ciura and Sasha Leeth became the first foursome in collegiate history to score in the same women's hammer competition – helping propel the SIU women to a ninth-place finish.
In 2015, Southern had one of its best all-around seasons in program history, with the Saluki women finishing ninth indoors and 12th outdoors. Leading that charge were two national shot put titles from star freshman (and future Ole Miss Rebel and three-time Olympian) Raven Saunders, as well as a hammer title from fellow future three-time Olympian, DeAnna Price.
In addition to Saunders and Price in 2015, other NCAA champions Price-Smith mentored at SIU were Jeneva McCall (2010 outdoor, discus; 2012 indoor, weight throw; 2012 outdoor, hammer) and Brittany Riley (2007 and 2008 indoor, weight throw). National runners-up included: J.C. Lambert (2012 indoor, weight throw); McCall (2011 outdoor, hammer; 2012 indoor, shot put); Riley (2007 and 2008 outdoor, hammer); and Amarachi Ukabam (2006 indoor, weight).
Price-Smith graduated from SIU in 1985, but only competed in track & field her senior year after an outstanding four-year college basketball career. She still ranks among the school's all-time leaders with 1,271 points and 744 rebounds, while she maintains the single-season record for best field goal percentage at .650, which led the nation her junior year.
At the urging of SIU track & field standout John Smith, whom she married in 1990 and now coaches alongside, Price-Smith threw the shot put for the first time as a senior and quickly became dominant in both the shot and discus, winning MVC indoor and outdoor titles in the shot in 1985 before embarking on her remarkable professional career.
A 1990 Saluki Hall of Fame inductee, Price-Smith also received the SIU Distinguished Alumni Award in 2001 and was named the Administrative/Professional Woman of Distinction in 2007. She was also selected for induction to the Drake Relays Hall of Fame in 2003 and the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame in 2012 as an Institutional Great. In 2014, Price-Smith was enshrined into the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame, and she was inducted into the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame in 2016.
Price-Smith is also revered as a leader in the collegiate and professional coaching circles, having served time as both the President of the USTFCCCA and the chair of the NCAA track & field committee in addition to numerous other leadership positions related to the administration and advancement of collegiate and American track & field.
Connie Price-Smith Coaching Career • By the Numbers (2001-Present)
• 42 NCAA Top-25 team finishes (31 at Ole Miss, 11 at SIU)
• 28 NCAA Champions (22 titles)
• 21 NCAA Runners-Up (14 at Ole Miss, 7 at SIU)
• 244 First or Second-Team All-Americans (172 at Ole Miss, 72 at SIU)
• 609 NCAA Points (380 at Ole Miss, 229 at SIU)
• 282 Conference Champions (206 MVC Champions at SIU, 76 SEC Champions at Ole Miss)
• 8 Conference Team Titles (6 at SIU, 2 at Ole Miss)
Ole Miss Under Connie Price-Smith (2015-Present) • 10th Season
• 31 NCAA Top-25 team finishes (17 in track, 14 in cross country)
• 20 NCAA Champions (14 titles)
• 14 NCAA Runners-Up
• 172 First or Second-Team All-Americans
• 380 NCAA Points
• 76 SEC Champions
• SEC record finishes: men's XC (1st, 2x), women's XC (2nd, 3x), men's indoor (3rd, 2x), women's indoor (T-4th, 2023), women's outdoor (4th, 2023)
• NCAA record finishes: women's outdoor (5th, 2024), women's indoor (5th, 2024), men's XC (4th, 2016), women's XC (10th, 2022)
• Six of the nine all-time NCAA top-10 finishes in Ole Miss history have come within the last three calendar years: 2024 women's outdoor (5th), 2024 women's indoor (5th), 2023 women's indoor (10th), 2022 women's indoor (T-6th), 2022 men's indoor (T-10th), 2021 men's indoor (10th), 2013 men's outdoor (8th), 2001 men's indoor (10th) and 1991 men's indoor (9th).
Connie Price-Smith SIU Coaching Career Highlights (2001-15)
• Saluki Track and Field head coach from 2004-15; Saluki Women's Track and Field coach from 2001-04
• Six-time MVC Coach of the Year (2005 & 2009 indoor, 2009 & 2010 outdoor, 2012 indoor, 2015 outdoor)
• Six MVC team championships (2005 & 2009 women's indoor, 2009 & 2010 women's outdoor, 2012 men's indoor, 2015 men's outdoor)
• Scored 229 NCAA points (112.5 indoor, 116.5 outdoor)
• Coached 72 All-Americans (51 First-Team), eight NCAA national champions and seven NCAA runners-up
• Coached 206 MVC champions and 19 MVC Most Valuable Athletes
• 11 NCAA top-25 team finishes
• Six MVC Cross Country titles (five men, one women), four MVC individual cross country champions, and two All-Americans (Jeff Schirmer, 2008 and 2009)
Connie Price-Smith Track and Field Career Highlights
• Four-time Olympian (1988, 1992, 1996, 2000)
• Finished fifth in the shot put in 1996, four and one-half inches away from a bronze medal
• 1996 finish was the highest for an American in the shot since 1960 (Earlene Brown, third, Rome)
• Her fifth-place throw of 63-0.5 was the longest throw ever by an American in the Olympics
• Ended her career as one of only 14 female athletes and one of only 30 US athletes of either gender ever to compete in four Olympiads
• Five-time Olympic Trials champion (three shot put titles, two discus titles)
• Won every U.S. shot put title from 1992-99
• Made every U.S. team for 15 years from her first season in 1987
• In total, owns 18 USA outdoor national titles, seven indoor titles
• Ended career with more national titles in the throws than any woman in U.S. history (25)
• Set the USATF National Outdoor meet record in the shot put (19.60m/64-03.75)
• In 1992, became the first woman to win both the shot put and discus at the Olympic Trials in 32 years (1960, Earlene Brown)
• No thrower has doubled at the Olympic trials since
• First woman to double (win both SP and DT) at national meet in 30 years; did so three times (1990, 1993, 1994)
• Best female doubler in U.S. history, 15th-best ever in the world
• First American woman to be world-ranked in six consecutive seasons
• Seven-time international medalist (Pan-American Games (4x), IAAF World Championships (1x), IAAF World Cup (1x), Goodwill Games (1x))
• 12-time IAAF World Championship qualifier
• 1995 silver medalist at the IAAF Indoor World Championships (shot put)
• 1995 WC medal was and is the highest medal for an American woman ever in the shot put; first since 1960 (Earlene Brown)
• Only American thrower to ever make seven Grand Prix Finals
• In the shot put, made 76 throws over 19 meters (62-05.00) and five over 64 feet
• In the discus, made 48 throws over 200 feet and nine over 210 feet
• Shot put personal best: 19.60m (64-03.75)
• Discus personal best: 64.82m (212-08)
Connie Price-Smith Basketball Career Highlights
• Was a member of the Saluki women's basketball team from 1980-84
• Her junior season (1982-83), she led the nation in field goal percentage at .650 -- an all-time SIU single-season record
• Ranked tied for sixth all-time in scoring (1,271)
• Fifth all-time in field goal percentage (.571)
• Seventh all-time in rebounding (744)
Awards and Honors
• USTFCCCA Coaches Hall of Fame (2024)
• President of the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (2017)
• USATF Hall of Fame (2016)
• St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame (2014)
• MVC Hall of Fame (2012)
• Drake Relays Hall of Fame (2003)
• Saluki Hall of Fame (1990)
• SIU Distinguished Alumni Award (2001)
• SIU Administrative/Professional Woman of Distinction (2007)
• In 2013, Lew Hartzog Track and Field Complex and Connie Price-Smith Throws Area were dedicated, the first facility on SIU's campus named after an African-American female
Players Mentioned
Sprints
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Sprints
/ Track and Field
Sprints
/ Track and Field
Sprints
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and FieldWho To Watch: Ole Miss Track and Field
Wednesday, October 08