McCord adds one to inaugural signing class

Carson-Newman head swimming coach Paige McCord has rounded out her inaugural swimming signing class with one final female swimmer to bring the final tally to 31 signees.

Nancy Claire Smith comes to C-N from Franklin, Tenn., and Franklin High School.

“Nancy Claire brings a lot to our women’s team in the individual medley and breaststroke events,” McCord said. “I look forward to working with her to further develop her skills. She is a strong student-athlete for Carson-Newman.”

Smith sports a time of 1:05.71 in the 100 breaststroke and a mark of 2:21.40 in the 200 breast.  She was her team’s record holder in the 200-meter breast.  At the Tennessee state high school meet, she finished seventh in the 100 breast and ninth in the 200 IM.

Smith earned Automatic All-American honors in the 400 freestyle relay in 2010 and was also a Scholastic All-American.  She is a four-time Excel Award winner and a three-time Southeastern Zone team member.  Her 400 freestyle relay team at Franklin finished second at the Tennessee state meet in 2011.

As skilled in the classroom as she is in the pool, Smith was Franklin’s Outstanding Senior Girl and fifth in her graduating class of 420.  A National Honor Society member, Smith took home the Sewanee Award for writing and was an AP scholar with honors.

She also finished her high school career with the French I honors award and was in the top 20 percent in the National French Exam.

She is the daughter of Dan and Lisa Smith.  Her uncle, Tom Mullady was a football star for Southwestern in Memphis (now Rhodes College) and went on to play for the New York Giants.  Smith plans to study either communications or chemistry at Carson-Newman, but is ultimately undecided on a major at this point.