Kerry Hils (center) runs with the Xavier cross country team. (Ernest Coleman photos) | ZOOM |

        Justin Smith tried to call Kerry Hils, but her roommate answered. Hils, too timid to talk, dove into bed and hid under the covers. “Tell him I'm not home,” she whispered.

        But pass-rushing defensive ends are persistent, and soon Hils took his calls — and had his heart. Two years later, the lovebirds have migrated from Missouri together, Hils joining her Bengal boyfriend in the wake of his first-round draft selection.

        “I would have followed him anywhere,” she said.

        Don't mistake this for subservience. Hils isn't awed by Smith's football prowess; in fact, she really doesn't follow the sport. She's plenty busy being a world-class athlete herself.

        The 20-year-old runner transferred from the University of Missouri to Xavier, for which she set the school record last weekend in helping the Musketeers win a cross country meet at Bowling Green. The XU junior won an NCAA track championship this spring for Missouri as part of a distance medley relay, and competed last year in the Olympic Trials in the steeplechase event, a race in which she said she once ranked No.1 in the world.

        “One of her biggest cross country fans is Justin,” XU cross country/track coach Scott Swain said. “He knows how well she's doing this season.

        “I know they are both very much into overall fitness, so to speak. They both push each other.”

Hils lifts weights. | ZOOM |

        Hils and Smith, who turns 22 on Sept.30, bought a house together in Cincinnati, and yes, they have a weight room. They met lifting weights at Missouri.

        “I never had a boyfriend in high school, but I saw him the first time and said, "This is the man of my dreams,'” Hils said.

        Smith and Hils aren't engaged; Hils said she's more worried about finishing school first. But the reason for her moving, she said, is that marriage is imminent.

        “We never have to talk about getting married,” she said.

        Hils, an Academic All-American at Missouri, was studying pre-medicine there. She has switched to sports management — not ruling out med school but dreaming of opening a chain of gyms with Smith someday.

        Under the NCAA one-time transfer exception rule, Hils got a release from Missouri and was able to compete immediately after transfering.

        She enrolled at XU and began training with the cross country team in early August, though Smith was a contract holdout. She said she never viewed her transfer as a gamble that would fail if Smith didn't sign, even when negotiations seemed stalled just days before the season opener.

        “I knew the deal was going to get done,” she said. “It was never as bad as it might have sounded in the papers.”

        The XU cross country team, which finished seventh of 11 in the Atlantic 10 last fall, is vastly improved overall. The Musketeers, who finished sixth last year at BG, won Saturday because the times of their top four finishers — Hils, sophomore Jennie Illig, senior Jenny Andrassy and freshman Jaime Wyckoff (Lakota East) — all ranked among the 10 best in school history.

        “When you have a top runner like that, it definitely encourages us,” Illig said. “Everyone's attitudes get better.”

        Hils' time of 17:56 Saturday broke the previous 5K school record, set by Laura Breitenstein in 1993, by seven seconds. Swain said he thinks Hils could be close to 17:00 by the end of the season.

        In steeplechase, a 3,000-meter event that includes hurdles and a water hazard, Hils could challenge for an NCAA title this spring. She finished 12th at the 2000 Olympic Trials.

        “Kerry is totally down to earth,” Swain said. “That's probably the reason they're together; I would describe her and (Smith) both that way.”

        They often miss each other's competitions. Hils said she'll attend Smith's NFL debut Sunday at home against Baltimore but probably stay only for a half.

        “Our (labrador puppies) are still getting potty-trained, so I don't want to leave them too long,” she said.

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