Morgan Smalls does it again in the high jump rising to the occasion at the national meet. The Panther Creek junior cleared 6-2¼ to set an outdoor personal record, new US No. 1 mark and a New Balance Outdoor Nationals Meet Record!
Smalls was the indoor national champion as well where she also set the indoor national meet record with a 6-3.25. Smalls best jump from the outdoor season coming in was 6-¾ which gave her a share of the National Lead.
Smalls placed 3rd at the outdoor championships as a freshman jumped 5-10¾, a personal record at the time. As a sophomore Smalls would compete at the USATF Junior Championships where she'd jump 5-11¾ to miss making a US Team by 1 inch.
Smalls opened up at 5-5 which she'd clear on her first attempt. She'd also clear 5-7 on her first attempt. Flight 1 was the top seeded flight, and 10 girls would move on past 5-10 giving ample time in between attempts.
Smalls would have a rare miss on her first attempts at 5-8¾ and 5-10½, but would clear on the second attempts on both heights.
Six girls would make it tp 6-0, 5 in Smalls flight, and Smalls would put on the pressure clearing it on her first attempt. Of the other 5 competitors only Elasia Campbell would be able to clear 6-0 as she'd do so on her final attempt.
The bar would move up to 6-1¼, which would be a new national lead if either girl cleared the mark. Smalls owned the tiebreak with no misses a 6-0. On her second attempt she'd clear the height where Campbell would have three good attempts at the mark.
Smalls would set the bar up to 6-2¼ for the new New Balance Outdoor Nationals Meet Record. The mark was previously set by Amy Acuff (Corpus Christi, TX) from 1991and 1993. Smalls would clear the bar on her second event breaking the 28 year old meet record!
Smalls and Campbell would become the 7th and 8th girls ever to exceed 6 feet at the national meet outdoors.
Smalls would move the bar up to 6-3½ for a new overall PR, but would come just short on three attempts. She'd make 14 attempts in the high jump on the day before moving on to Long Jump directly as the High Jump concluded.
Smalls also took 6th Saturday in the Championship Triple Jump jumped 41-5 (+0.5) narrowly improving on the her state lead and US No. 14 mark in the event. She'd jump 18-9¾ in the Long Jump taking 14th overall missing the finals narrowly which took a 19-1¼.
Only a junior, Smalls has quickly become one of the most accomplished high jumpers in US history. This week she'll compete at the USATF U20 Championships where she'll aim for a top 2 finish to secure a spot on the USA's Junior team that'll compete at the Pan American U20 Championships in San Jose, Costa Rica on July 18th-21st this summer.
Related Links:
