Smit, Short Honored at Alumni Awards Luncheon

Senior Jared Smit (Lafayette, IN/Central Catholic) and junior Ryan Short (Indianapolis, IN/Perry Meridian) (photo right)were honored at the 2002 Wabash College Alumni Awards Luncheon, held Saturday May 11. Smit received the Indianapolis Association of Wabash Men Scholar-Athlete Award and was earned the North Coast Athletic Conference Scholar-Athlete Award, presented to an outstanding student-athlete at each of the ten conference schools. Short received the Pete Vaughan Award, presented by the National Association of Wabash Men to the outstanding Wabash athlete of the year. The award was established in 1948 in honor of Robert E. "Pete" Vaughan, 31-year coach and athletic director at Wabash College.

Smit qualified for the Division III National Cross Country Championship race for the second consecutive year in 2001 after missing his sophomore season with a knee injury. He is a provisional qualifier in the 10,000-meter run for the upcoming 2002 NCAA Division III National Track and Field Championship meet. Smit earned a place on the All-Conference Track and Field Team with a second place finish in the 5,000 meters at the 2002 North Coast Athletic Conference Track and Field Championships. He was selected to the NCAA Academic All-American Cross Country team for the second consecutive year in 2001.

Smit was a three-time All-Conference cross country runner, finishing in the top seven in the last two North Coast Athletic Conference Championship meets.

Smit is a chemistry major and plans to attend Northwestern University after graduating from Wabash. He is a chemistry major and is the son of Jerry and Jill of Lafayette, Indiana.

Short, a 6-5 junior tight end on the Wabash College football team, led the Little Giants with 73 receptions for 901 yards in 2001, the fifth-best single season performance in school history. He tied the school and conference records for touchdown receptions in a season, making 13 TD catches for the second consecutive season. Short was a First Team All-North Coast Athletic Conference selection and a 2001 Football Gazette All-North Region Second Team selection. He tied for 18th in the nation in receptions per game with an average of 7.3. After three seasons at Wabash Short is third on the all-time receiving list with 172 receptions for 2,068 yards, and is second in career touchdown receptions with 28.

Short was selected to the Hewlett Packard All-American First Team, the Football Gazette All-American Second Team, and the D3Football.com All-American Second Team.

In addition to his exploits on the gridiron, Short started 24 games at center for the Little Giants basketball team, averaging 11.3 points and five rebounds per game.

Short is an economics and speech double major and is a member of Phi Delta Theta. He is the son of Carl Short and Kathy Day.