Alex Smolka - Women's XC/Track & Field Coach - Florida Atlantic University Athletics

Photo by: Mauricio Paiz

Alex Smolka

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
asmolka@fau.edu

Alex Smolka has been part of both the Florida Atlantic University cross country and track and field programs from almost the very beginning.

The cross country program started in 1991, and Smolka joined it as an assistant coach in November 1991. He took over as the head cross country coach in August 2001 and became the head coach of the entire program in July 2002. During the 2005-2006 academic year, indoor track & field was added as a women's intercollegiate sport.

The Owls continued to make strides during the 2025-26 season. FAU opened the cross country season with a victory at the Keiser Flagship Cross Country Invitational. At the 2025 NCAA South Regional Championships, Anabell Reumann led the Owls in the 6k, running the ninth fastest time in program history. The indoor season was highlighted by two new school records, with Rosa ten Berg earning All-Conference honors and a silver medal in the 800m. The outdoor season saw two more new school records with Jessica Hatch qualifying for the NCAA East First Rounds in the 3000m steeplechase after breaking the 17-year-old event record, running a time of 10:07.58.

The 2024-25 season the Owls improved by five spots at the 2024 American Cross Country championships. Freshman Constance Pittet finished eighth overall earning all-conference honors. The freshman also broke the 15 year school record for the cross country 5k (17:32.9). The indoor season was highlighted by three new school records. After 21 years, Jessica Hatch broke the indoor mile program record running 4:51.89. The outdoor season saw two Owls earning all-conference honors. After finishing second and earning a silver medal in the 3000m steeplechase at the American Championships, Anabell Reumann was tabbed all-conference for the second year in a row with Rosa ten Berg wrapping up the season with a bronze medal in the 800m, earning her first career all-conference honors.

Smolka oversaw the teams' transition to the American Athletic Conference for the 2023-24 season. 85 percent of the cross country and track student-athletes achieved personal bests and the team as a whole recorded more PRs than any previous season. The outdoor track season culminated with Anabell Reumann becoming the first Owl to win a medal in the American, earning the bronze in the 3000m steeplechase.

During the 2022-23 season the squad set 11 new program records, 34 entries into the top 10 record book, and three medals at the conference championships. Smolka guided the cross country team to multiple strong finishes, including a first-place win in the Thomas Invitational, a third place finish in the USF Invite, and a fourth place finish at the home FAU Invite. Under Smolka's watch, Casey O'Connor won CUSA Athlete of the Week and Madlen Kappeler finished on the All-Conference USA XC second team, her fourth all-conference honor of her career. The track season saw Jessica Lambert win the 800m gold medal for both the indoor and outdoor seasons as well as qualify for the 2023 NCAA East First Rounds, the first Owl to do so since 2019. Indoors, Kappeler won her first career medal, claiming silver in the 5000m. The DMR team (Elyssa Toal, Cara Simpson, Jessica Lambert and Anabell Reumann) won bronze at the CUSA Indoor Championships, breaking the school record for the second consecutive season

In 2021-22, Smolka led a very young program throughout the cross country and track & field seasons. During cross country season, Madlen Kappeler made her way on the All-Conference USA XC Third Team after her 21st-place showing at the CUSA Championships, as well as the All-Academic Team for the third consecutive year. The men’s and women’s teams achieved a myriad of personal records throughout the season. The indoor and outdoor seasons in 2022 ended with 33 FAU top-10 marks and three school records. At the 2022 C-USA Indoor Championship, the distance medley relay team (Casey O’Connor, Eriana Teague, Jordan Stevens and Paige Saiz) broke a seven-year school record with a time of 11:59.61. Jessica Lambert earned the bronze medal in the 800 meters for the second consecutive year at the CUSA Outdoor Championship, where she tallied a personal record of 2:09.31. Cara Simpson came up with points for the Owls with a fifth-place finish in the 100 meters (11.71).

The 2020-21 season saw the team accomplish several historic finishes. Cross country finished sixth at the 2020 CUSA Championships with 169 points to become the best finish at a CUSA Championship in school history. Madlen Kappeler finished the women’s 6K in 11th and Marisha Thompson followed in 20th to earn spots on the All-CUSA Second and Third Team, respectively. At the 2021 CUSA Indoor Championship, the team finished in seventh with 40 points, which became the best for FAU since joining the conference. Jessica Lambert claimed her first gold medal in the 800 meters and Anaiis Scheeres captured silver in the high jump, while also breaking the school record (1.69m).

The 2019 cross country season gave everyone a chance to know Madlen Kappeler’s name. The redshirt freshman captured 16th and All-CUSA Third Team honors at the CUSA Cross Country Championships, becoming the first All-Conference XC runner since 2013. Indoors, the 4x400m relay team of Jessica Lambert, Lyric Schmalz, Roshelle Francois, and Anne-Catherine Wasser broke the program's 12-year record.

The Owls had a historic 2018-19 season. For the first time in program history, the Owls hosted the 2018 Conference USA Cross Country Championships. Indoors, Natalliah Whyte became a Conference USA champion, winning gold in the 60 and 200 meter dashes in program record time. She earned the honors of 2019 CUSA Indoor Female Track Performer of the Meet and Highest Point Scorer of the Championship Meet. The outdoor track & field slate saw Anne-Catherine Wasser and Whyte qualify for the NCAA East First Rounds with Whyte becoming the first FAU runner to qualify for the NCAA Championships. Whyte competed in the 100 meter dash in Austin, Texas and finished 16th overall. Whyte was named an USTFCCCA Second Team All-American and earned CUSA Female Track Athlete of the Year after winning gold in the outdoor 100 meter and indoor 60 and 200 meter dashes. Seven times throughout the cross country, indoor and outdoor season an FAU athlete was named C-USA Athlete of the Week.

In 2017-18, Frida Thorsås continued her streak of reaching the podium with second place finishes in the pentathlon and heptathlon. At the CUSA Outdoor Championships. Crystal McDougle also reached the podium with a third place finish in 100 meter hurdles.

The year 2016-17 saw that number raise to seven years in a row as Frida Thorsås (javelin) and Jamika Glades (100 and 400 meter hurdles) qualified to compete at the NCAA East First Rounds in Lexington, Kentucky.

In the 2014-15 season, the Owls made big leaps in year two of CUSA. Twice during the cross country season, Chloe Sell earned Conference USA XC Athlete of the Week honors. Smolka saw his first indoor and outdoor Conference USA Champions on the track. A freshman at the time, Frida Thorsås won the pentathlon at the CUSA Indoor Championship and claimed victory in the heptathlon at the CUSA Outdoor Championship. Sitia Martinez also won the 400 meter hurdles at the outdoor championship. For the fifth year in a row, the Owls were represented in the 400 hurdles at the NCAA East First Rounds as Martinez qualified for competition. The 4x100 meter relay team of Deja Jones, Martinez, Sherline Valentin, and Regina Wilkerson also qualified after breaking the 10-year program record and earning silver at the outdoor championships running 44.75.

Smolka helped develop one of FAU's top hurdlers, Danielle Aromashodu, who was named FAU's Female Student-Athlete of 2013-14, is the school record holder in the 400-meter hurdles and won the Sun Belt Conference Championship in the 400 meter hurdles in each of her first three seasons. All four years of her career Smolka helped lead her to the NCAA East First Rounds and she was honored as a member of the Division I All-Academic Track & Field Team by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

Smolka also coached Friederike "Iki" Feil, who went on to run professionally. Feil holds the FAU school record for cross country in the women's 6K. She also has the indoor and outdoor track records in the 3000m run and is a part of the 4x800m relay team that holds the women's school record at FAU. In 2011, Feil won a bronze medal in the 3K steeplechase at the German National Championship and went on to sign an endorsement contract with Brooks Shoe Company.

In 2010, the Owls placed second in the Sun Belt Cross Country Championship and placed third in the 2009 indoor championship. FAU never placed lower than fourth at the Atlantic Sun Outdoor Track and Field Championships, finishing third four times. In the school's first season of indoor competition, Smolka's squad placed second at the A-Sun Indoor Track and Field Championships. In 2006-07, FAU's first year in the Sun Belt Conference, the women finished third at the cross country championships and eighth in both the indoor and outdoor track championships.

Additionally, Smolka coached Manny Huerta who is a two-time Olympian in the triathlon. Huerta ran at FAU from 2002-04 and was a 2012 Olympian for Team USA and 2016 Olympian for his native country of Puerto Rico. Today, Huerta lives in Miami and is a coach.

All told, 43 individual Owls have qualified for the NCAA Track and Field Regionals under Smolka. One athlete provisionally qualified for the NCAA Outdoor National Championships and the women's cross country team has been ranked as high as 13th in the South Region.

While at Florida Atlantic, Smolka has mentored 89 All-Conference outdoor track athletes, 49 All-Conference indoor track athletes, 15 cross country All-Conference runners, an USTFCCCA Second Team All-American, CUSA Track Athlete of the Year, outdoor track & field Outstanding Freshman, indoor track & field Outstanding Freshman and Outstanding Indoor track & field athlete of the year. Smolka has also had more than 400 student-athletes make the conference All-Academic Team and four female student-athletes of the year. In addition, all of the individual records for the programs have been set under his supervision.

Smolka grew up in Vienna, Austria, and London, England, and was a three-sport athlete (skiing, soccer and track), competing numerous times in the International School Sports' Tournament (ISST) in various European countries. He then served as the captain for the Hampshire College soccer team while training and competing with the University of Massachusetts track and field team, where he set personal bests in the 400m (48.36 sec.) and 800m (1:53.88). Following college, he competed in triathlons, twice becoming a USA National Team member for the Maccabbiah Games in Israel in 1993 and 2001.

Smolka holds a bachelor's degree in history from Hampshire College (1988), a master's degree in sports and business management from Northeastern University (1992) and a Master of Arts degree in history from FAU (1996). He is a certified R.A.D (Rape Aggression Defense) instructor, a certified professional rescuer/lifeguard and a USATF Level I and II certified coach.

Smolka resides in Boca Raton, Florida, with his wife, Caroline, and their six children: Tevya, Avi, Michaela, Johanna, David and Jacob.