WINSTON-SALEM, NORTH CAROLINA - Junior Morgan Smalls (Panther Creek) came into the NCHSAA 4A State Championships as the favorite in three individual events, the High Jump, Triple Jump and Long Jump. What she went on to do was truly historic and won't be repeated at the state meet ever.
To kick off the meet Long Jump and High Jump would go on simultaneously. Ideally, to avoid fatigue she'd like to take as little jumps as possible. She did just that in the Long Jump. Smalls jumped a 19-11.75 moving up to North Carolina #2 All-Time in the event. She would take her fourth jump, but that mark was safe to win by over a foot.
| GIRLS LONG JUMP FINALS | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLACE | ATHLETE | TEAM | RESULT | H# | ||||
| 1 | Morgan Smalls | 11 | Panther Creek | 19-11.25 | 1 | |||
| 2 | Jirah Sidberry | 12 | Rocky River High School | 18-07.00 | 1 | |||
| 3 | Alana Mack | 12 | North Mecklenburg | 17-10.00 | 1 | |||
| 4 | Tionna Wilson | 11 | South View | 17-08.50 | 1 | |||
The focus then went onto High Jump. She'd have to face off with Addie Renner who along with Smalls had jumped 5-10 this indoor season.
Both girls would equal their indoor best clearing 5-10. Smalls on her first attempt, Renner on her second attempt. The bar would go up to 6-0.
Smalls was able to set a new seasons best of 6-0 on her second attempt. Renner was very close on her third attempt, but just hit the bar. Smalls became the first North Carolina girl to ever clear 6-0 indoors.
Smalls would go on to set a new overall PR of 6-1 clearing the mark on her third attempt. The mark is good for the North Carolina State Record, current US#1 mark, and is US#4 All-Time Indoors.
| GIRLS HIGH JUMP FINALS | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLACE | ATHLETE | TEAM | RESULT | H# | ||||
| 1 | Morgan Smalls | 11 | Panther Creek | 6-01.00 | 1 | |||
| 2 | Addie Renner | 12 | Myers Park | 5-10.00 | 1 | |||
| 3 | Taylor Turner | 11 | Apex Friendship | 5-04.00 | 1 | |||
| 4 | Amber Jackson | 10 | Ardrey Kell | 5-04.00 | 1 | |||
Only Vashti Cunningham (6-6.25, 2015), Lisa Bernhagan (6-3, 1984) and Paula Girven (6-1.25, 1975) have jumped better than Smalls did today indoors.
Smalls would go on to run on the Panther Creek 4x200m Relay and compete in the Triple Jump. On her third attempt she would jump 41-9.75, good for her third meet record of the day, her third US#1 mark and North Carolina #3 All-Time Indoors. Smalls would pass her final three attempts.
| GIRLS TRIPLE JUMP FINALS | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLACE | ATHLETE | TEAM | RESULT | H# | ||||
| 1 | Morgan Smalls | 11 | Panther Creek | 41-09.75 | 1 | |||
| 2 | Na'Zyia Evans | 12 | Olympic | 37-07.75 | 1 | |||
| 3 | Jirah Sidberry | 12 | Rocky River High School | 37-07.50 | 1 | |||
| 4 | Veronique Woodson | 12 | Hoke County | 37-01.50 | 1 | |||
Her focus was certainly on the High Jump as it's having competition like Renner is a rare find and brings the best out of both of them. It's truly insane to jump 41-9.75 and 19-11.75 and those not be close to your most impressive performance of the meet.
Jumping at your best across three different events in one day is also very difficult as the meet only lasted for four hours. Indoor Nationals will be a real showing of her potential in both the Long and Triple Jump where she is now a contender for national titles in those events as well. High Jump is Friday, Long Jump Saturday and Triple Jump Sunday.
Smalls 30 points gave Panther Creek a narrow edge as a team on the podium ahead of Reagan and Providence with team scores of 56 to 49 to 48 in the battle for second behind Southeast Raleigh who won with 63 points.
