Carter Smith

Photo by: Bobby Ellis/Ball State University

Carter Smith at 2025 Earl Yestingmeier Invite

Photo by: Josh Brunette

Photo by: Ronnie Archer

Photo by: Michael Hickey

Photo by: Michael Hickey

Photo by: Collin Phillips/Ball State Athletics

Mason Rudolph Challenge, Day 3: April 7, 2024

Photo by: Josh Shelton

Mason Rudolph Challenge, Day 2: April 6, 2024

Mason Rudolph Challenge, Day 1: April 5, 2024

Class:
Senior
Hometown:
Sellersburg, Ind.
High School:
Silver Creek HS

Awards and Honors:
All-MAC Second Team (2025)
All-MAC First Team (2024)
Cobalt Golf All-America Scholar (2024, 2025)
Academic All-MAC (2024, 2025)
MAC All-Tournament Team (2023)
MAC Golfer of the Week (Oct. 17, 2024; Sept. 13, 2023; Sept. 7, 2023; March 30, 2023)
Individual Champion, Earl Yestingsmeier Invitational (Sept. 10, 2023)
Individual Champion, Don Benbow Invitational (March 28, 2023)

Ball State's first first-team All-MAC golfer since 2015, Carter owns Ball State's second-best score over 54 holes (199), and his three-year average of 73.04 is fourth in Cardinals history ... second-team All-MAC in 2025 ... two-time team MVP and his career average will surely fall among the tops in program history ... played consistently at No. 1 in Ball State's lineup through much of his sophomore and junior seasons ... four-time MAC Golfer of the Week has been a part of three consecutive Cardinals teams to finish first (2024) or second (2023 & 2025) in the Mid-American Conference ... begins taking graduate courses this spring.

"Carter's had a great, interesting career," said Cardinals coach Mike Fleck, "but now he's in a different circumstance than he was before," referring to Smith's role as the Cardinals' only senior this year among a roster comprised of freshmen and transfers. "Carter has been through every battle that we've experienced over the last several years, and he continues to be one of our best players -- and our most experienced player. He is another ultra-competitive young man that is pretty decorated on this young roster. We're going to look at Carter to lead us through the spring season, you know, especially playing college golf in March and April and into May. We'll lean on him pretty heavily as we work towards the conference championship.

Fall 2025 (Sr.): Shot 72.60 over 15 rounds, with a sixth-place finish at the Earl Yestingsmeier Invitational (65-71-67---203, -7).

2024-25 (Jr.): Second-team All-MAC selection ... over 27 rounds as a junior, Smith averaged 73.00 per round, with three top-10 finishes ... an 8-under 64 in the second round of the White Sands Bahamas Invitational tied as the lowest round in program history, relative to par ... he also had a 6-under 66 in the second round of the Everett Buick GMC Classic ... fired five rounds below 70 overall, including four straight from Oct. 14 to Oct. 26 ... his hot stretch resulted in a second-place finish at the Everett Buick GMC Classic (70-66-69---205, -11) in Little Rock, Arkansas ... ten days later he finished sixth in the Bahamas (69-64-72---205, -11), with a second consecutive tournament at -11.

2023-24 (So.): First team All-MAC selection, the first for Ball State since Johnny Watts in 2015 ... his 72.78 stroke average was seventh among Ball State single-season averages, and his two-year average also is seventh … in Ball State’s opening tournament of the spring, a match play event at the MAC/A-10 Challenge in South Florida, he needed only 46 of 54 holes to complete his rounds … he was the No. 1 golfer on the top rated team who started each round on the first hole … he never played the 17th or 18th holes in any of three rounds, beating his opponent by the 16th hole each time … earned MAC Golfer of the Week three times, with a pair of Top-5 finishes and five Top-25 finishes … the individual champion of Ball State’s Earl Yestingsmeier Invitational in September, he twice shot a low round of 68 – in the third round of the EY Invite and again in the second round at Dorado Beach.

2022-23 (Fr.): Played a total of 33 rounds with an average score of 73.33 as a freshman ... shot his best round with a 65 (-5) at Butler’s Don Benbow invitational ... his 65-65-68---199 at the Don Benbow Invite set Ball State's record for the lowest rounds over 54 holes.. ... finished the Benbow Invitational with a 199 (-11) and finished first out of 88 participants ... finished tied for fifth at the MAC Men’s Golf Championship with a 216 (E) and helped lead Ball State to second-place finish … named to the MAC Golf Championship All-Tournament Team.

HIGH SCHOOL: Smith was the IHSAA's recipient of the Fred A. Keesling Mental Attitude Award at the conclusion of the 2022 Indiana State Finals ... he was the lone senior on his Silver Creek High School team which was making the school's first appearance in the state finals since 1939 ... he graduated with a 3.74 GPA, completed 45 hours of dual credit during his career and earned scholarships from the Silver Creek Career Academy for his leadership and academic success ... prior to his senior campaign, Smith was a sectional champion for Silver Creek, earned a runner-up spot at the regionals as a junior and took home a third-place finish at the 2021 IIHSAA State Finals ... he earned a spot on the 2021 All-State Team ... "Carter has dominated the top spot in the National Junior Golf Scoreboard rankings over the past couple of years as the #1 ranked player in his class and our state," said Fleck on the day he signed with the Cardinals program.