Ezra Smith

Photo by: Tony Harman

Position:
NORDIC
Height:
5-3
Class:
Junior
Hometown:
Breckenridge, Colo.
High School:
Summit
Prev School:
Summit Nordic Ski Club

Top Career Classic Finish: 3rd (2019 New Mexico Invitational)
Top Career Freestyle Finish: 6th (Twice, Last 2021 DU Invitational)

Honors

Second-Team All-RMISA (2021)
Three-Time Letterwinner (2019, 2020, 2021)

Career—Transferred away from CU after the 2021 season. After steadily improving from the start of her freshman season through her sophomore season, Smith emerged as the team captain and a threat in all races in her junior campaign. She has finished all 32 possible races in her career with 27 top 20, 14 top 10 and three top five performances, including one podium appearance. Her podium was in the classic race at the New Mexico Invitational her freshman season, while two of her three top five and eight of her 14 top 10 finishes have come in freestyle races.

2021 (Junior)—Smith earned All-RMISA honors after a solid junior season and picked up her third career letter in the process. After finishing 12th in freestyle and 13th in classic to open the season at the RMISA Invitational at Utah, she turned it on for four straight top 10 performances and six in her next eight races. She took sixth in three of those next four races, picking up that position in the freestyle race at the DU Invitational and then in both races at CU’s Spencer James Nelson Memorial Invitational. She was ninth in the classic race at the DU Invitational. Her sixth place finish at the CU Invitational matched her career best classic finish. Heading back to Utah, she took 12th in the classic race before a season best fourth place finish in the freestyle race at the RMISA Invitational at Soldier Hollow before taking 14th in classic and eighth in freestyle at the RMISA Championships a week later at the same venue. At the NCAA Championships, she just missed out on two All-America honors, taking 14th in the classic race and 11th in the freestyle race.

2020 (Sophomore)—Smith competed in and finished all 10 races leading up to the NCAA Championships and had eight top 20, five top 10 and one top five finish in a stellar season. She finished as the second CU skier twice and third CU skier three times to earn her second letter. She opened the season with a top 10, finishing ninth in the freestyle race at Steamboat Springs, where she also took 15th in the classic race as part of the CU Invitational. At Maloit Park for the DU Invitational, she had one of her better collegiate meets, finishing ninth in the classic and improving to sixth in the freestyle race, earning points for the team in both races. In Aspen at the RMISA Nordic Qualifier races, she was 15th in the freestyle and then took ninth in the 21K classic Owl Creek Chase. She fell ill prior to racing at Soldier Hollow and finished 25th in the freestyle and 23rd in the classic races, her only two finishes outside the top 20. She rebounded the next week in Bozeman at the RMISA Championships, finishing fifth in the freestyle and 14th in the classic race.

2019 (Freshman)—Smith finished all 10 starts in 2019 and was impressive, improving at each meet along the way until Alaska, where she wasn't at 100 percent. Her 10th place finish was in the 10K classic race at the CU Invitational when CU put four of its five skiers in the top 10. She took 15th in the 5K freestyle race at the Montana State meet, improving two spots from the CU Invitational freestyle race the week before. She also has a 14th place classic finish at the MSU meet. After the week off, she was even more impressive at New Mexico, hitting the podium for the first time in third place, helping the Buffs to a 1-2-3 finish in the classic race, and she followed that up with an eighth place finish in the freestyle race the next day, both the best finish in each discipline in her young career. In Alaska, she finished 15th and 21st in the two classic races and 21st and 22nd in the two freestyle races.

Prior To CU—Smith skied for Team Summit and on top of being a double state champion her freshman year in 2015 at Summit, she went on to become the U-16 Junior National Champion in skate Tahoe that same season. She attended the Scandinavian Cup races in both 2016 and 2017. She has skied in more than 50 FIS sanctioned races since 2015 and has skied at the U.S. National Championships since 2016 with her best finish being 18th in the 10K freestyle race in 2017 at Soldier Hollow. In her 50 plus FIS starts, she has 15 top 20 and two top 10 finishes.

High School—Smith graduated from Summit High School in Breckenridge, Coo., in 2018. She won the 2015 freestyle and classical high school state championships and was given the Xfinity Award as the top female high school performance of the year.

In the Classroom—She is majoring in Art Practices at Colorado.

Personal—Smith was born April 12, 2000, in Idaho Falls, Idaho, to Todd and Debra Smith. She has two sisters, Jazlyn and Tai-Lee, and one brother, Broc. She also competed competitively in mountain biking and attended the 2017 World Championships.

Why Colorado—"I love living and skiing in Colorado."