Ashley Smith began at Illinois on Feb. 2, 2026, where she will assist in coaching the distance crew in cross country and track while also handling assistant director of operations duties. She hails from Clemmons, N.C. and competed on the cross country and track teams both at UNC Chapel Hill and Virginia Tech. 

While at North Carolina she won Athletic Director's Scholar Athlete of the Year and Carolina Athletics Most Improved Athlete awards. She also was a swimmer growing up and most recently competed in professional triathlons for a couple of years representing the United States. 

She makes the move to Champaign with her husband and former Virginia Tech teammate, Antonio Lopez Segura, and she's also fluent in spanish.