University of Georgia Athletics
Smith Knows When It's 'Go' Time
May 13, 2025 | Track & Field, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Like many athletes, Michelle Smith has her rituals or habits. Some people's are invisible to the public, like a pre-race prayer or visualization technique, while others are front and center.
The Georgia 400-meter hurdler, who has been named the SEC Women's Freshman of the Week three times already this outdoor season, has a very public thing she does during every race — but only through the first half: she runs with her gold chain in her mouth from hurdle one to hurdle five.
"It helps calm me," said Smith, who is from the U.S. Virgin Islands but attended Montverde Academy in Florida.
"When I put it out of my mouth, that means I have to speed up. That means I have to go."
Smith has been going fast since her first 400 hurdles race for the Bulldogs. After running the 400 meters a few times during the indoor season to stay fit and race-ready — there is no 400 hurdles indoors — Smith's first outdoor race came in late March, at the Black & Gold Invitational in Orlando, Fla. She won with a time of 55.98 seconds.
On April 4, at the Florida Relays in Gainesville, Smith not only won the race with a time of 54.56, she also broke the school record. The previous mark of 54.93 seconds, set by Gudrun Arnardottir in 1996, had stood for nearly 30 years.
In her most recent competition, at the LSU invitational on May 3, she was the top collegiate finisher and second overall with a time of 54.62, just off the record she'd set a month before.
"I think I'm doing well," she said of her first season running the 400 hurdles in college. "I feel like it's setting up for a good postseason."
Up next for Smith and the top-ranked Georgia women, and the fifth-ranked Georgia men, is the SEC Outdoor Championships. They begin Thursday at Kentucky. Smith heads into the big conference meet with the fourth-fastest collegiate time in the country this year, but two of the women ahead of her run for SEC schools. Michigan's Savannah Sutherland leads the nation with a time of 53.46, followed by Arkansas' Rachel Glenn at 53.48 and Texas' Akala Garrett at 53.73.
One reason that Smith has gotten off to such a good start at Georgia is that her transition to college has been a mostly comfortable one. That's because she's gone off to school before. After growing up in Frederiksted, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, where her track career began, she went to boarding school at Montverde, near Orlando, for her last three years of high school. Montverde, known for its athletic programs, is also where Georgia men's basketball freshman Asa Newell, as well as Duke freshman and probable NBA No. 1 draft pick Cooper Flagg, went to school.
"Montverde really prepared us for college," Smith said. "When I came here, I was like, Oh, this is kind of easy. I was like, Okay, this is kind of manageable. If I stay on track, I'll be good.
"With the track part, I always have this mentality that I have to perform and just go and execute. And I think I brought that over here."
Smith said she also got some powerful and affirming advice from her coach at Montverde, Jean-Carlos Arroyo: "He told me: 'No matter where you are, you're you.'"
The 400 hurdles combines the speed required to run the 400 meters quickly with the agility and stamina needed to navigate all of the hurdles. At 5-foot-10, with long legs, clearing the hurdles isn't a challenge for Smith, but that doesn't mean the race is easy. Her school-record time of 54.56 in the 400 hurdles isn't too far off the school-record time of 49.44 in the 400 set in April by Aaliyah Butler, a 2024 Olympian on the U.S. team.
"You definitely have to have the endurance for it, and then you have to be able to maintain a specific pattern so you can have the easiest race possible," Smith said. "Some people, they get out too fast and then they're dead at the end. If you can contain and hold (your speed), that's good."
Smith said she doesn't focus too much on chasing times, like getting under 54 seconds, which only three collegiate hurdlers have done this outdoor season. Instead, she just tries to be better today than she was the day before, and then do that the next day and the day after.
"I'm just trying to get better every race. I try to just go one step at a time," she said. "I don't like putting a time out there. I think it just gives me a little bit of anxiety. When I'm just trying to do better than I was last time, that's better for me."
And when she drops that gold chain out of her mouth at the fifth hurdle, it's go time.
Staff Writer
Like many athletes, Michelle Smith has her rituals or habits. Some people's are invisible to the public, like a pre-race prayer or visualization technique, while others are front and center.
The Georgia 400-meter hurdler, who has been named the SEC Women's Freshman of the Week three times already this outdoor season, has a very public thing she does during every race — but only through the first half: she runs with her gold chain in her mouth from hurdle one to hurdle five.
"It helps calm me," said Smith, who is from the U.S. Virgin Islands but attended Montverde Academy in Florida.
"When I put it out of my mouth, that means I have to speed up. That means I have to go."
Smith has been going fast since her first 400 hurdles race for the Bulldogs. After running the 400 meters a few times during the indoor season to stay fit and race-ready — there is no 400 hurdles indoors — Smith's first outdoor race came in late March, at the Black & Gold Invitational in Orlando, Fla. She won with a time of 55.98 seconds.
On April 4, at the Florida Relays in Gainesville, Smith not only won the race with a time of 54.56, she also broke the school record. The previous mark of 54.93 seconds, set by Gudrun Arnardottir in 1996, had stood for nearly 30 years.
In her most recent competition, at the LSU invitational on May 3, she was the top collegiate finisher and second overall with a time of 54.62, just off the record she'd set a month before.
"I think I'm doing well," she said of her first season running the 400 hurdles in college. "I feel like it's setting up for a good postseason."
Up next for Smith and the top-ranked Georgia women, and the fifth-ranked Georgia men, is the SEC Outdoor Championships. They begin Thursday at Kentucky. Smith heads into the big conference meet with the fourth-fastest collegiate time in the country this year, but two of the women ahead of her run for SEC schools. Michigan's Savannah Sutherland leads the nation with a time of 53.46, followed by Arkansas' Rachel Glenn at 53.48 and Texas' Akala Garrett at 53.73.
One reason that Smith has gotten off to such a good start at Georgia is that her transition to college has been a mostly comfortable one. That's because she's gone off to school before. After growing up in Frederiksted, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, where her track career began, she went to boarding school at Montverde, near Orlando, for her last three years of high school. Montverde, known for its athletic programs, is also where Georgia men's basketball freshman Asa Newell, as well as Duke freshman and probable NBA No. 1 draft pick Cooper Flagg, went to school.
"Montverde really prepared us for college," Smith said. "When I came here, I was like, Oh, this is kind of easy. I was like, Okay, this is kind of manageable. If I stay on track, I'll be good.
"With the track part, I always have this mentality that I have to perform and just go and execute. And I think I brought that over here."
Smith said she also got some powerful and affirming advice from her coach at Montverde, Jean-Carlos Arroyo: "He told me: 'No matter where you are, you're you.'"
The 400 hurdles combines the speed required to run the 400 meters quickly with the agility and stamina needed to navigate all of the hurdles. At 5-foot-10, with long legs, clearing the hurdles isn't a challenge for Smith, but that doesn't mean the race is easy. Her school-record time of 54.56 in the 400 hurdles isn't too far off the school-record time of 49.44 in the 400 set in April by Aaliyah Butler, a 2024 Olympian on the U.S. team.
"You definitely have to have the endurance for it, and then you have to be able to maintain a specific pattern so you can have the easiest race possible," Smith said. "Some people, they get out too fast and then they're dead at the end. If you can contain and hold (your speed), that's good."
Smith said she doesn't focus too much on chasing times, like getting under 54 seconds, which only three collegiate hurdlers have done this outdoor season. Instead, she just tries to be better today than she was the day before, and then do that the next day and the day after.
"I'm just trying to get better every race. I try to just go one step at a time," she said. "I don't like putting a time out there. I think it just gives me a little bit of anxiety. When I'm just trying to do better than I was last time, that's better for me."
And when she drops that gold chain out of her mouth at the fifth hurdle, it's go time.
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files.
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