Benton Harbor's India Smith Signs with SMC Cross Country

Benton Harbor High School's India Smith July 31 signed a letter of intent for SMC's return to National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) cross country.

Smith, 19, joins Elkhart Concord's Abby Lee, Union's Raegan Del Guanto, Mishawaka's Bailee Shambaugh and Coloma's Vanessa Crisenbery committed to the Roadrunners for Fall 2021, along with nine men, Thomas Lorenz of Hillsdale, Ethan Saylor of Dowagiac, Levi Hall of Mishawaka, Alex Blanton of Plainwell, Robert "Buster" Ward, William Westphal and Ben Gillesby of Cassopolis, Gavin Smith of Decatur and Samuel Reed-Loomis of Otsego.

Makayle Weedon of Paw Paw will help manage Head Coach Zac Sartori's team.

Smith ran track through middle school in Louisiana.

"My mom ran track in school," Smith said, "so it's like a family thing. I tried out for cheer and one day I ran with them and the coach came to me and said, 'You've got pretty good speed. Have you ever run track?' The only other sport I get into is volleyball. I'm little and skinny, just a normal girl, and I think I can take advantage of that."

Running "is peace of mind to me," Smith said. "Me, I'm an overthinker and worry too much. When I run, I don't think about anything. There's a big field down the street from me that I jog around in the morning before work" at Harbor Graphics, a screen printer and embroiderer which has been producing custom apparel, signs, banners and promotional items since 1993.

Smith loves to sing, "but I'm just too shy." Smith's grade-point average qualified her for Beta Club, which promotes academic achievement, character, service and leadership.

"We gave out food and different activities and I enjoyed that because it was a way to give back while having fun with other people you don't know," Smith said.

So it's no surprise she is interested in studying something like nursing "because I have a soft spot for kids. That's what I want to do as I get older is help people and to travel around the world to places I've never been. I want to explore. I look everything up on the internet and read up on it, so I read about travel nursing to see what I would have to do to reach my goals."

Asked how she connected with SMC, Smith replied, "It's funny because I wasn't really thinking about college until my parents brought it up to me my junior year of high school. My cousin told me about SMC, so I looked it up. It seemed like it could be good for me. When I visited, I really liked it. (Cross country) is something I want to do, even though I'm nervous."

Though she didn't compete once she moved to Michigan, she continued to run. When she confided her plans to her mother, she said, "If there's something you really want to do, go for it."

"I don't really have a Plan B," Smith said, "because Plan A is what I want — and I'm going to get it."

She is the only girl of five children and lives in Benton Harbor with her mother. "I'm the second-oldest," she said. Her father lives in South Bend.

Her exposure to her teammates so far amounts to participating in a group chat online the day before, but "they seem pretty cool."

"A lot of people ask me about my name," India said, "but I don't have a story."