McKenna Smith Biography

Bridgeport High / (Class of 2017) Bridgeport, West Virginia

Classification: AA

Specialty: Sprints/Hurdles

West Virginia University / Morgantown, West Virginia

 

Early:

Smith played soccer from the time she was five years old until the tenth grade.

Her earliest memory of running was during her childhood… “It was back when I was really little and in Kindergarten. I would come home from school every day and tell my family that I beat all the boys in my gym class running and they were all mad at me,” said Smith. “I thought it was kind of funny at the time to see them getting mad whenever I beat them.”

 

High School (2014-2017):

McKenna Smith, of Class AA Bridgeport High School, is one of the most successful high school female track and field athletes in the history of West Virginia. She ended her high school career with ten state track titles (nine individual), five state records, two team titles, and two high point titles. While at Bridgeport High School, her girls track and field coach was Emilee Stout.

As a freshman, Bridgeport’s 4x200-meter relay team of Lexie Sczerba, Hannah McCall and McKenna Smith won the state title in a time of 1 minute, 46.15 seconds. The time broke the group’s own school record. Smith won the first of her many individual titles at the West Virginia State Meet in Charleston with a first-place finish in the 400-meters (58.46 seconds). Her time broke the BHS record. Smith also had two runner-up finishes in the 100m (12.43 seconds) and the 200m (25.35 seconds), while placing third in high-point honors with 28.50 points. The Indians not only won the state championship, but did so in convincing fashion. The Tribe finished with 130 points, which was easily more than double of Oak Glen, the runner-up with 53 points.

As a sophomore, Smith had a severe case of shin splints which kept her from competing in the state championships.

“My sophomore year I ended up getting hurt and had to sit out the rest of the season,” said Smith. “I had to sit out and watch my team at states and know that I couldn’t help them perform. That was kind of awful, but I kind of tried to keep a positive mindset.”

Note: Even though Smith didn’t compete in the state meet, Smith finished her sophomore track season with the Class AA Girls Best Performance in the 100m (12.17), 200m (25.34), and 400m (58.68).

Smith spent the offseason of rehabbing and training, so she could show the state what she was capable of.

As a junior, Smith set new state marks in the 100 -, 200- and 400-meter dashes. The marks weren’t just state meet records, they were state records. She also got a state title in the 300-meter hurdles.

Smith’s time in the 100m was 11.89 seconds, it was 24.4 seconds in the 200m and 56.11 in the 400m meters. As for the hurdles, she won that event despite running it for the first time as a junior. She was the Class AA Girls high-point winner with 40 points.

Smith’s margins of victory: She won the 100m by .92 seconds, the 200m by 2.4, the 300m hurdles by 2.85 and the 400m by 4.63 seconds.

By the time the season was over, not only had Smith helped lead the Indians to a second state title in girls track and field, but she didn’t lose an event all season. The Indians’ won over their northern rival North Marion, 105.50 to 51 points.

Prior to 2016, there were two 100-meter times in the history of the state 12.00 or below – one at 11.98 and a hand-held time of 11.94. In the span of three weeks in the Big 10 Conference Championships, Class AA Region II meet and states, Smith ran a 12.00 or better four times and broke the record three times (twice surpassing her own mark) with times of 11.97, 12.00, 11.97 in the qualifying heat on Day 1 of states and 11.89 to win the state title and establish the new mark.

In June of 2016, McKenna Smith was announced as the Gatorade State Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year for the 2015-2016 season.

The Gatorade State Player of the Year award was established in 1985 to recognize the nation’s most outstanding high school student-athletes for their athletic excellence, academic achievement and exemplary character.

Because of her achievements during her junior track season, Smith was also announced as the McCoy Award winner, given to the state’s best male and female athletes in cross country/track and field.

Smith is the second Bridgeport athlete to win the McCoy Award and first female. Abe Merinar won the 2014 male McCoy Award winner.

After her junior track season, Smith signed her national letter-of-intent to run for Coach Sean Cleary at West Virginia University, where she will be majoring in occupational therapy.

As a senior, Smith won all four of her events and set records in each for a second straight year in girls AA, again scoring an individual maximum of 40 points. She left Laidley Field as a 10-time event champ, owning the best state-meet times across all divisions in the 100m, 200m and 400m dashes as well as the 300-meter low hurdles.

Not only did Smith break her own state meet marks, but she also broke the state records in the 100-meter dash (11.85), the 200- (24.36), the 400- (54.61) and the 300-meter low hurdles (43.04). Smith’s 400 clocking ranked as the nation’s No. 56 performance among prep competitors this past spring, while she ranked No. 60 nationally in the 300 hurdles.

Smith also holds a fifth state record in the 4 x 400-meter relay. The 4-minute barrier was finally broken by a West Virginia Girls High School team. At the Gazette Relays on Saturday, April 28th, 2017, the Bridgeport crew of Kristen Crowder, Isabella Bowen, Kirstin George, and McKenna Smith scored a 3:59.03 to set a new All-Time Standard for West Virginia. The old mark had stood since 1990.

On June 22, 2017, while its 32nd year of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, The Gatorade Company, announced McKenna Smith of Bridgeport High School as its 2016-17 Gatorade West Virginia Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year.

Bridgeport’s McKenna Smith has set the bar high for future track and field athletes.

In addition to track, Smith was a standout soccer player at Bridgeport High who left the sport in 2016 to focus entirely on track.

 

Accolades:

·         Twelve-time All-State Selection in track

·         Ten-time Class AA Girls WV State Champion (9 individual titles)

·         Named Gatorade State Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year 2016 & 2017

·         McCoy Award winner

·         Two years in a row she scored 40 points at WV State Meet to take high-point honors

·         Broke five state records in 2017 in the 100m, 200m, 400m, 300m Hurdles, and 4x400m Relay

·         Scored 108.50 points at the Class AA Girls WV State Meet during her career

·         Eleven-time WVSSAC Region II AA Champion (10 individual), while four-time runner-up

·         Ten-time Big 10 Conference Champion (9 individual), while two-time runner-up

·         Made fourteen different West Virginia State Meet All-Time Lists

 

McKenna Smith West Virginia State Meet All-Time Lists:

·         1st All-Time All-Class 100 Meters

·         1st All-Time AA/A 100 Meters

·         1st, 6th 2010’s AA/A 100 Meters

·         1st All-Time All-Class 200 Meters

·         1st All-Time AA/A 200 Meters

·         1st, 5th 2010’s AA/A 200 Meters

·         1st All-Time All-Class 400 Meters

·         1st All-Time AA/A 400 Meters

·         1st 2010’s AA/A 400 Meters

·         4th All-Time All-Class 300 Meter Hurdles

·         1st All-Time AA/A 300 Meter Hurdles

·         1st 2010’s AA/A 300 Meter Hurdles

·         4th All-Time AA/A 4x200 Meter Relay

·         1st 2010’s AA/A 4x200 Meter Relay

 

McKenna Smith’s High School Personal Records:

·         60 Meter Dash (in) - 7.82

·         100 Meter Dash - 11.85 (State Record)

·         200 Meter Dash (in) - 26.72

·         200 Meter Dash - 24.36 (State Record)

·         300 Meter Hurdles - 43.04 (State Record)

·         400 Meter Dash - 54.61 (State Record)

·         4x400 Meter Relay - 3:59.03 (State Record)

 

Personal:

·         Parents Jeremy and Naomi (Cunningham) Smith

·         She has a younger brother, Elijah

·         Lives in Bridgeport, West Virginia

·         Height: 5-Foot-6

·         Smith has maintained a 3.86 GPA in the classroom

·         She was an active member of the Bridgeport High student council

·         She has signed a national letter of intent to compete on an athletic scholarship at West Virginia University beginning this fall

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Submitted by Mike McMillion (updated 07/21/2017)

Results courtesy of RunWV