University of Vermont Athletic Hall of Fame
Brenda Stoll White Smith 1990 - Cross Country, Skiing
A three-time first-team All-American and NCAA individual champion in Nordic skiing and a North Atlantic Conference individual champion and three-time captain in cross country running, Brenda Stoll White Smith, a 2001 UVM Hall of Fame inductee, was the 1989 winner of the Semans Trophy for leadership, loyalty and service to the University.
The Williston, Vermont native represented the United States in the 1992 Winter Olympic Games in Albertville, France as a member of the U.S. Nordic Team. Those facts alone would be pretty remarkable, but Coach Chip LaCasse offers more background on White's amazing story.
"What is incredible is Brenda came to UVM as an alpine skier," he said recently. "She switched to cross country and in three years became one of the best Nordic skiers in the country, winning an individual national title and two other NCAA relay crowns."
As a sophomore, White skied the middle leg on the NCAA champion relay team while placing 14th in the individual race. Prior to the national championships, she was a top-three UVM finisher in five of eight carnivals, as well as being one of the top three runners on the cross-country team.
Following another solid cross country season, in which she was captain and Most Valuable Runner, White won the 1988 10-K national ski title and anchored the 3-by-5-K relay team that won the championship. On the EISA carnival circuit, she won races at UVM and in the EISA Championships.
In 1988, she was Vermont's second-best performer behind Hall of Famer Sari Argillander Galanes in cross-country, finishing 10th at the New England Championships to help the Cats to a third-place finish.
On the snow that winter, she was captain of the women's Nordic team and helped the Cats to the first of two straight NCAA Championships with a third-place finish in the freestyle race. UVM swept the top four places that year, with Argillander winning, Selma Lie second, White third and Laura Wilson fourth.
In the fall of 1989, White ran her final season of cross-country and was a mainstay on that team that won the inaugural North Atlantic Conference Championship. White won the individual title and concluded her career with a fifth-place showing at the New England Championships, winning Most Valuable Runner of the team again.
White received her degree in Health Counseling in 1990. She now lives in Williamstown, Mass. with her husband, Samuel Smith, and their two children: Grace and Margo.
