Following a highly successful HS track career in Ohio, Christi Smith-Ryan chose to attend the University of Akron. In her four years at Akron, Christi won eleven Mid-American Conference (MAC) indoor & outdoor titles and earned All-MAC honors seven times. Christi was also Akron’s first multiple All-American, receiving that honor 4 times. She broke women’s records at Akron in every event in which she competed including a school and MAC record (5797 points) in the Heptathalon in 2000.
Christi was the NCAA runner-up Heptathlete in 1999 and in 2000 became Akron’s first NCAA Champion in the same event. Later that summer she competed as Akron’s first female athlete to qualify for the US Olympic Trials.