Smith's career nears end

She went to her first track meet and read a book in the stands as her sister ran laps. As a youngster, she had a fondness for the trampoline and balance-beam of the gym floor, never the starting blocks or sand pits on the local track. And she ran in a middle-school meet once a year, but just for fun. Now the honor of being a captain of arguably the most talented Ivy League track team this year, and of holding the school indoor triple-jump record, belong to this same girl. She no longer watches her sister run, and she hasn't done a floor routine in years, but it's still all for fun. Senior Karyn Smith has travelled a long road to Penn, one that comes to a close in the next few weeks after tommorrow's meet at Cornell. She is one of the most accomplished athletes this program has seen, and continues to break records. But such success was not always so evident. Smith's competitive track career started her sophomore year of high school. She had a mediocre outdoor season, only to be injured and benched the following season with a stress fracture. Returning revitalized for her culminating high school season, she ran the indoor and outdoor seasons with success. "My athletic director sent Penn a letter on my behalf," Smith said. "I'd never heard of the Penn Relays or of Wharton for that matter." Her recruiting visit made the final decision, which in turn led her to deny calls from Harvard, Princeton, USC and Northwestern. But in her first year in Philadelphia, her thoughts turned to quitting the sport. "Things were very unstructured in high school," Smith said. "Then in college you had to show up for this and do that. And they wanted to make me a runner, but I liked to jump." But a teammate by the name of Ruth Greenfield, then a junior who later became Smith's mentor, was instrumental in keeping her on the team. They had a friendly rivalry that made each try to out-match the other. So she was still on the team, but her momentum was quickly slowed as a pulled hamstring took her out of competition. "I didn't do what I was suppose to do, going in and lifting twice a week and going to practice all the time," Smith said. "[The injury] put me out of almost the entire season and I still have problems." Smith learned a quick lesson about strength conditioning, and a long-term one that has helped her mature. "If you want to succeed you need to take the extra pains," Smith said. "I didn't think they would make a difference. Now I do extra things just to make sure that practice just isn't going through the motions." And such a work-ethic has carried her into a senior year that has prospects of being award-laden. She has repeatedly broken her personal records. But if she has learned anything from her experiences, it is that "you have to have fun or you'll get paralysis from analysis." It may just be a catchy saying that you'll forget later on today, but Smith holds it dear. It says a lot about her changed personality, and it represents a lot about the team. When they travel to Ithaca, N.Y., tomorrow to take on Cornell in the last Ivy meet of the season, the Quakers need to relax and have fun. They've already clocked times fast enough to win, but if they get caught up in analysis and contemplation of the talent they have, they'll lose it. Karyn Smith found that out just in time, improving both her track career and her outlook on life.