Her accomplishments - she is the top-ranked U.S.-born hammer thrower in the women's college ranks this season - would be impressive for anyone. They are made more impressive by the fact she came to CSU from the rural northeastern Colorado town of Julesburg as an athlete with potential and little else.

"In high school, track was something I did to stay in shape between volleyball and basketball," Smith said. "I always had good hops, but I wasn't going to make it in volleyball or basketball at this level because I'm only 5-(foot-)6. I guess (CSU throwing coach Brian) Bedard saw something special in me."

Bedard's pet project has become something special, for sure. Smith is a five-time All-American in outdoor and indoor NCAA events and her recent hammer throw of 220 feet, 8 inches is the best by any American-born collegian.

To watch Smith propel the 8-pound ball-and-chain contraption is to watch an artist at work, her arms whipping the hammer around her head three times before she takes four complete spins of her body and heaves.

But to know where Smith came from to get to her lofty level is more impressive. The Cliff's Notes version: After spending the first six years of her life in Florida, she and her mother, Sherry Smith, left her biological father and moved to Denver. They lived in and around the Five Points neighborhood for several years, her mother working various jobs, before moving to Julesburg when Loree was a young teenager.

There never was much money, but there always was tons of love.

Sherry Smith now works at a small shop in Julesburg, surprised like everyone else by her daughter's remarkable ascent from unknown to college star.

It was not easy, Loree said, but that is not the point.

"I grew up eating government cheese and powdered milk," she said. "But when you're like that, you don't know any difference. There was always enough. Not a lot, but enough."

For Smith, her track accomplishments never are enough. She set an American collegiate record in the NCAA indoor championships in March in the weight throw, a modified hammer designed for indoor competition. But her second-place finish to longtime nemesis Candice Scott, who since has quit the Florida team, did not sit well.

Last season in the NCAA outdoor meet, Smith finished sixth in the hammer. She competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials in the summer but missed out on a trip to Athens when she failed to finish in the top three.

Which brings her to this week, then to the NCAA championships next month at Sacramento, Calif. She is tired of runner-up finishes. She wants it all.

"When I was watching the hammer at the Athens Olympics on TV, there was a lot of frustration and anger," she said. "But when I look back on it, I think some good came from it. People say I'm too hard on myself, but hopefully, it's going to drive me to the next level."

The next rung on the ladder to the next level is the Mountain West meet. Smith is the favorite in the hammer throw. She also might compete in the shot put and discus.

She is a short-timer these days at CSU but plans to continue her career in the hammer. Bedard, the coach who discovered her, does not want to think about her college career coming to an end. It makes him too emotional.

"Loree has never been coddled at any time of her life," said Bedard, one of the more well-regarded throwing coaches in college track. "She's had to earn every bit of her success, and that's what makes her so special.

"She's been so good for this program, so good for this university. She's so charismatic, so well-known around the campus, and that's a tribute to her personality."

And to that smile, that shining beacon that never seems to dim.

Copyright © 2004 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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