Pine Crest three-sport standout Smith was inspired by her family’s legacy
Hanna Elks Smith figured out where she wanted to spend the next chapter of her life by drawing inspiration from her family’s past.
Smith, a three-sport standout and honors student from Pine Crest
School in Fort Lauderdale, will attend the United States Naval Academy.
Serving her country runs in Smith’s family.
“My great-grandfather, Jay Cannon, served in World War II and was a prisoner of war,” Smith said. “That was who kind of inspired me to look into the military and my dad was who initially introduced me to the Navy. I think just the combination of leadership, academics and athletics was the perfect fit.”
Smith has exemplified that mix of qualities both in the classroom and in the three sports to which she has dedicated herself.
It’s what led to Smith being selected as the Miami Herald’s Broward County Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Smith maintained a 4.79 GPA and scored a 1490 on her SAT while becoming a four-time All-Broward first team selection in swimming and an All-American.
She was also a district champion and regional finalist during her sophomore and junior years playing for the Panthers’ girls’ tennis squad.
As part of the school’s 3,200-meter relay, Smith qualified for the state meet this year in her first season competing in track and field.
“(Going to the Naval Academy next year), you need to have a really solid running base, and I feel like I’ve always been super fast, so this year I wanted to go join the track team and I did it with my best friend, Isabella, who is also a swimmer,” Smith said. “We have a super-competitive state, so to make it and to have the whole team come together to drop 23 seconds from districts to regionals, with two of the fastest seventh-graders in the country on the team, I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Smith’s first experiences in the water involved jumping on a surfboard as a 4-year old, which put her on a path toward her successful high school swimming career.
Smith has been a part of three state championship winning relays — twice on the 200-yard freestyle and once on the 200 medley relay at Pine Crest. She also finished in the top seven at state in both the 50 and 100 yard freestyle this past season.
A few years later, Smith picked up a tennis racket and found she also had the skills to excel on the court on one of the state’s premier programs.
“I started surfing when I was really young and just to get you better at surfing you start swimming, and then you start falling in love with swimming and my dad always thought I’d be a good tennis player because I’m very competitive and most tennis players are, so I picked up tennis along the way,” Smith said. “I couldn’t drop either of them. I just love them so much and it’s been difficult to do both, but it’s been so rewarding and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Smith wanted to swim for the Navy, but ended up committing to play tennis despite not playing this past season at the high school level. Smith still played tennis every day while she ran track three times a week.
The juggling act of playing three sports while keeping up her grades has never been an issue for Smith.
“It’s really, just enjoying the things that you do, enjoy the classes that you take and if you don’t enjoy it just put aside time to sit down, and do it and love what you do,” Smith said. “Especially with sports, love the sports that you do because you’re not going to get the time back.”
Where life takes her next could involve doing some of her most important work either on land or at sea.
But Smith already has a plan for what she wants to pursue in the Navy.
“I want to major in nuclear engineering and be a nuke SWO, which is an office on a surface warfare ship,” Smith said. “I do not want to go on a sub. I know a lot of people that go into (that field) do, but I would love to work on a nuclear reactor on a surface warfare ship.”
I THINK JUST THE COMBINATION OF LEADERSHIP, ACADEMICS AND ATHLETICS WAS THE PERFECT FIT.”