Athlete of the Week: NDB's Krissy Smoot

Less than a month into her junior season, Smoot has already bettered that mark — and then some.

The Daily Journal Athlete of the Week not only broke her own shot put record last Wednesday in a dual meet with Sacred Heart Cathedral at Serra High School with a throw of 41-6. She went on to claim NDB’s discus record as well, persevering the rain Saturday at the St. Francis Invitational in Mountain View, topping Osia’s record in the discipline by spinning up a throw of 134-5.

“For some reason, I’m not focused on records,” Smoot said. “I’m just trying to better my own record every time.”

Obviously, Smoot’s two new school records are personal bests as well. And she’s determined to better them. A two-sport athlete, Smoot also plays volleyball at NDB, where she was a freshman on the 2015-16 team that won the Division IV state championship. Her older sister Katie was the star of that team and has moved on to a Division I volleyball career at Pac-12 powerhouse University of Arizona.

Until recently, the younger Smoot had followed in her sister’s volleyball footsteps, playing four years at the same Encore Volleyball club. This year, though, Smoot broke away from the year-round commitment to volleyball to focus on track and field.

“It’s kind of a different year,” Smoot said. “But change is good.

“I want to play a sport in college,” she said. “I want to participate there, and track was more realistic. I could have kept playing volleyball but … I just wanted to play the highest level I could.”

With the support of arguably the best shot put thrower San Mateo County has ever produced, how could Smoot do it any differently? That’s precisely how the door to track and field opened for Smoot when, as a middle school student, a family friend by the name of Gregg Tafralis said she should give the sport a try.

Tafralis is a local legend, going from Capuchino High School to the 1988 Summer Olympics. Smoot met him through Tafralis’ daughter Alexa, who used to babysit Smoot and her three siblings. Not only did he encourage Smoot to give track and field a try, he now works with her 1-on-1 as a personal coach.

The results have been evident to NDB head coach Mike Benedetti.

“She has all the tools,” Benedetti said, “she has everything you need, she’s an unusually hard worker. … I wish they were all like that because she’s a workhorse.”

Smoot’s talent has had an impact on the coaching structure at NDB as well. NDB is a sister school of Serra. And with the Tigers utilizing Serra as their home field, Smoot made an impression as a freshman on Serra track coach Jim Marheineke.

Marheineke is a field specialist and, while he is not officially a coach for NDB, he has been essentially been adopted as a coach by the Tigers’ throwers. Marheineke said Smoot was the specific reason he wanted to work with the sister program.

“Her freshman year, I definitely could see the potential,” Smoot said.

Marheineke said it was Smoot’s work ethic that helped her excel as a sophomore.

“Just her desire,” Marheineke said. “And she was kind of taking to it. That helped her make the leap.”

At Saturday’s St. Francis meet, it was Marheineke’s encouragement that pushed Smoot to discus greatness, she said. It was a rainy day, making it difficult on competitors’ grips. Smoot wasn’t immune, scuffling through the meet until she had just two throws remaining.

“It wasn’t going too well,” Smoot said. “I fouled one, and the other two weren’t my best throws. … Then Mr. Marheineke said: ‘Go for it.’ And I actually PRed.”

It was her penultimate throw that produced the record. Marheineke said of her next and last throw that she had an even better approach, but the disc slipped off her fingertips, preventing her from bettering the record.

It also prevented her from taking first place. With Smoot’s success has come an intriguing rivalry with Carly Watts, a fellow junior from Terra Nova. Watts surpassed Smoot in Saturday’s discus showdown on her final throw with a distance of 137-1.

Shot put is still Smoot’s bread and butter, though. And now that she has eclipsed the 40-foot plateau, she has designs on taking her game to the next level. When asked if she has a 50-foot throw in her, she quickly responded: “I hope so.”

The only CCS thrower to surpass 50 feet in recent years was 2016 Valley Christian-San Jose graduate Elena Bruckner, who like Smoot was also a two-sport standout who played volleyball, and track and field.

In Smoot’s pursuit to reach such an elite level, through this season and the next, she certainly has the faith of her coaches.

“Barring anything weird health wise,” Benedetti said, “the sky is the limit for her.”