Have you met Davante Smith?
Davante Smith (Criminal Justice, Class of 2020) is from Ellenville, New York. Smith graduated from Ellenville High School. Counting this year, Smith has been running Cross Country for 7 years on and off. He says that he made his decision to come to Southern Vermont College (SVC) when “I came to visit last fall, meeting with Kathleen Newton (Class of 2004) and the team. It really made my decision a lot easier.”
In high school, Smith received Most Outstanding Runner his freshman year (2012) and his senior year (2016), when he also served as captain.
Going into his freshman year here at SVC, Smith has received the Freshman of the Year award, All Conference First Team, and the eighth All-Time Runner award. When asking Smith how his team gets along, he responded with, “We all get along very well. When spending all your practice running for miles and miles you develop a bond for people working as hard as you do for something you have passion for. When you train, study, eat, and hangout with each other just about every day, it really builds the feeling of not just having a team, but a family you grow with.”
Being a freshman, Smith says it feels amazing to win a conference. He believes the amount of effort his team and himself have put together shows that they deserve it. He says, “I think that our season turned out great, I couldn’t have asked for much more out of my freshmen year. Adding to that, my personal goal this season was to buckle down and really devote myself to collegiate-level cross country and I think that that’s what pushed me to do well this season.”
