Bio

Kristen Monahan Smith began her first season as an assistant coach with the Michigan Tech cross country and Nordic ski teams in 2017-18.

A native of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, Monahan Smith came to Houghton after serving as the Assistant Cross Country running coach for the local high school, Community School, in Sun Valley, Idaho as well as the Competition Team Coach of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation. Monahan Smith helped guide multiple Cross Country running athletes to All-State accolades.

In addition to coaching in Sun Valley, Monahan Smith served as an assistant Track and Field Coach for Jyväskylän Kenttäurheilijat in Jyväskylä, Finland, and a guide in training for a Finnish paralympic athlete.

Monahan Smith is a former Cross Country runner, Nordic skier and Track and Field athlete at Michigan Tech. After earning a bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science from Michigan Tech she moved to Jyväskylä, Finland to continue to run and ski race, and received her Master’s in Exercise Physiology from the University of Jyväskylä where she worked in KIHU, the Research Center for Olympic sports. Her master’s research assessed aerobic and anaerobic thresholds using running and rollerski treadmill tests with national level and elite Finnish athletes. In addition to her athletic career at Tech, Kristen still has a strong passion for running and skiing and enters into any trail run she can get her hands on. She has dabbled in the Ultra running scene taking 3rd and 4th place in the Standhope Ultra 60 and 30-kilometer marathons.