Larrieu, "Francie" (Frances)
Track and Field
b. Nov. 28, 1952, Palo Alto, CA
The sixth of nine children, Larrieu has an older brother, Ron, who ran for the U. S. Olympic team in 1964. She began racing at thirteen and won the first competition she ever entered, a 660-yard race for junior girls.
As a tiny sixteen-year-old, the 5-foot, 100-pound Larrieu was a crowd favorite, much like Mary Decker. But, also like Mary Decker, she was hampered by a series of injuries, possibly caused by intensive training at too early an age.
By 1972, she had grown to 5-4 and 135 pounds and increased her stamina. She scored an unusual double that year, winning AAU national titles in the 1,500-meter and the cross-country, and she repeated that feat in 1973, winning the 1-mile and cross-country championships.
After missing most of the 1974 season with an injury, Larrieu came back in 1975 to set a world record of 4:28.5 in the mile at the U. S.-Soviet Union indoor meet.
The national champion in the 1,500-meter in 1976, 1977, 1979, and 1980, Larrieu began racing at longer distances in 1979, when she won the national 3,000-meter title. She was also the 3,000-meter champion in 1982. As Francie Larrieu-Smith, she won the 10,000-meter event in 1985, her final competitive season.
In 1999, Larrieu-Smith became men's and women's cross country/track and field coach at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. Her husband, Jimmy Smith, is a professor of kinesiology at the school.