Fresno State Athletics
Track & Field
- Title:
- Assistant Coach (Throws)
- Email:
- apsmith@csufresno.edu
April Smith enters her fourth season as an assistant coach in charge of the Fresno State throws group.
Through three seasons, Smith has piled up six Mountain West individual championships and 12 All-MW selections at the conference level. She has coached Kayla Hopkins (discus) and Vanja Spaic (javelin) to back-to-back titles in the javelin. Â
Nationally, she has helped 11 athletes reach NCAA regional meets. Hopkins and Spaic have each advanced to the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships under Smith with both earning All-America accolades in 2017 with 11th-place finishes. Spaic returned to the championships in 2018 where she became the program’s third two-time All-American in the javelin with a 12th-place result.
During her 13-year tenure at Appalachian State, Smith coached 22 regional qualifiers, 10 national qualifiers and one athlete that met an Olympic trial standard of 63 feet, 1 inch in the shot put in June of 2007. She has also coached 59 conference champions and 32 All-Southern conference athletes in the shot put, discus, hammer, javelin and weight throw events. But arguably her greatest personal accolade was in 2006 when Smith was named the NCAA East Region Women's Throws Coach of the Year.
In addition to a high caliber technical coaching ability, the Fresno State track and field program is gaining a coach that will bolster the mental side of the sport.
Smith also brings experience as a coach from the highest level, having been a member of the United States Track and Field coaching staff for the Junior Pan American games in 2013. Smith's team earned a gold and bronze medal in the shot put and two silvers in the discus and hammer throw for Team USA in Columbia, S.C.
Prior to joining the Appalachian State staff in January of 2002, Smith served as a graduate assistant at Chadron State College in Chadron, Neb. While at Chadron, she coached her first Division II All-American during her first year of coaching.
In addition to coaching experience, Smith has 13 years of competition experience in the shot put, discus, javelin, hammer and weight throws. In college, she was a three-time NAIA National Champion and a nine-time All-American. She was also named the Nebraska State College Athlete of the Year and the Doane College Women of the Year in 2000.
Smith's collegiate career started at the University of Kansas before transferring to Doane College in 1998. During that span, Smith was a Big 12 All-Conference performer, a Jayhawk scholar-athlete, Jayhawk Freshman of the Year and made the Big 12 Conference Commissioner's honor roll.
Her competition experience also extends internationally. She has competed in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and trained under the direction of Yuriy Syedikh and Natalya Lisovskaya - world record holders in the men's hammer throw and the women's shot put.
Smith earned her bachelor's degree at Doane College in physical education with an emphasis on sports management in 2000 and completed her masters degree at Appalachian State in 2006. Smith is married to Bob Smith, a former throws coach at at Appalachian State, and they have two sons, Andrew and Derek.
