(This is the third part in a series of features on Baylor Athletics' 25 for 25, which honors Baylor's top 25 athletes in the 25-year history of the Big 12 Conference (1996-21). Selected by a panel of Baylor experts, the final list was picked from a pool of over 100 candidates that came from all 19 intercollegiate sports that the school offers. Through the end of March, two honorees per week will be released and will also be featured during game broadcasts on the Baylor Sports Network from Learfield IMG College.)
 
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
           
Nearly 22 years after winning the triple jump at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships and setting Baylor's school record that same year, Stacey (Bowers) Smith has to wonder if her marks will ever fall.
           
Now in her 18^th season on staff and fourth as associate women's track head coach, Smith is still the school record-holder in the triple jump both indoors (45-2 ½) and outdoors (46-1 1 ¼) and owns seven of the top 10 marks all-time.

Two years ago, Alex Madlock became the only other Baylor women's triple jumper to break the 45-foot barrier, winning the Texas Relays with a career-best leap of 45-3.

"I might be sad for a little bit, but I'd get over it," Smith said of Madlock potentially breaking her record. "As much as I would love to keep it, I think it would be even better to see her get it. She's close. I think it's just a matter of time. She's been working really hard, so I don't know if she's working hard to get to nationals or beat my record. Either way, I'll be proud of her."

One of the greatest high school athletes ever in Central Texas, Smith was named the Super Centex Athlete of the Year by the Waco Tribune-Herald in 1995 after earning Player of the Year honors in volleyball and basketball and sweeping the triple jump and long jump titles to help La Vega win the Class 3A team championship at the state track meet.

Focusing on one sport at Baylor, she was a nine-time All-American and four-time conference champion and is still the only individual national champion in program history. And while the triple jump became her signature event, Smith earned her first All-America honors as a freshman in 1996 when she ran the third leg on the 4x400 relay that placed fifth at nationals.

"I've never been as nervous as I was that day," she said. "I thought I was just warming up as an alternate. But then, about five minutes before the race, Coach (Clyde) Hart said, 'Stacey, you're going to run.' And I was like, 'What?' I think I was scared more than anything, but it worked."

Before winning the national championship her senior season at Baylor, Smith broke her own school record and won the Big 12 title in the triple jump before a home crowd at the Hart/Patterson Track & Field Complex with a leap of 46-1 ¼.

At the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championship in Boise, Idaho, Smith was passed by defending national champion Trecia Smith of Pittsburgh on the final round of jumps. Instead of repeating her runner-up finish from the year before, Smith popped off a 45-10 jump that won her the gold medal.

"I remember on the runway, I was like, 'No, I'm not going to let her beat me,''' she said. "She's done it too many times. I didn't get it indoors when I went in ranked No. 1. I'm not going to lose it again. So, I pretty much gave it all I had and went for it on that last jump. I was like, 'I am not losing today.'''

Smith, inducted into the Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame in 2009 and the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame in 2017, has coached 16 All-Americans and eight conference champions at Baylor and helped Felix Obi win the triple jump at the 2014 NCAA Indoor Championships with a school-record leap of 54-5 ¼.

"I think they see how excited I get and how pumped up I get. That just rolls over to them, and they feel it," said Smith, who is married to former Baylor football and basketball player Rodney Smith. "Through them, I still get that joy and that adrenaline rush. It's just a joy watching them succeed, and do it, because I know they can and I know how fun it is when you do it. That's the reason I am the way I am."
 
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Benjamin Becker, Men's Tennis (2001-05)