Garfield high jumper Markeise Smith heads to regional meet as state championship contender
Garfield senior Markeise Smith is not going to sneak up on the competition Friday in the Division I track and field regional championship meet at Austintown Fitch High School.
Smith, 18, is a known commodity this year after finishing last year as the Division I state runner-up in the boys high jump.
Smith won a district championship last week at North Canton Hoover and is primed for more success this week.
"We have talked many times, and his expectation is to always be one of the top in the state," Garfield coach Kevin Gorby said May 11 after the City Series championship meet at Ellet. "A lot of times it is you get down to state and you never know what is going to happen that day. All we are going to shoot for is to be our all-time best. It could be someone else's day to be their all-time best, too."
The 6-foot, 168-pound Smith cleared 6 feet, 8 inches in last year's Division I state meet to finish second to Connor Durig, a 2023 Warren Howland graduate, who cleared 6-9. Durig is a freshman jumper at Youngstown State University.
"I have been doing this since middle school and I fell in love with it," Smith said.
Smith cleared 6-8 in the high jump at the Columbiana Clipper Invitational last year before the state meet. He jumped 6-9 at the Poland Invitational this year.
Smith won the district high jump title at Hoover with a 6-6 result and was fifth in the long jump at 21-9½.
"Markeise was the field event MVP at the GlenOak [Second Sole Eagle] Elite Meet," Gorby said. "He won the high jump with a meet record of 6-8 and won the long jump at 21-6. Then we went to the Poland Invitational and he was named field event MVP of that meet with a 6-9 in the high jump and a 21-3¾ in the long jump. That was an incredible day.
"Then the next week, we went to the Columbiana Clipper Invitational and he won the long jump with a 21-½ and the high jump with a 6-2. He was named the meet's field event MVP and the overall MVP. He also placed first in the 100-meter dash with a 10.90 and was second in the 200-meter dash with a 22.90. He scored 38 points in that meet."
Smith also competed in basketball, baseball, football and track and field as a kid and in high school. His jumping exploits have caught the attention of coaches at the University of Akron, Kent State and Alabama State.
"My expectation last year at the state meet was to come in and learn," Smith said. "I almost came out on top. I was learning from jumpers at district my freshman year. Sophomore year, I came in and put the work in after dealing with injuries, and then the next thing you know I came in my junior year, kept working and came into my senior year hot."
Weather conditions were ideal last week at Hoover. They were not at the City Series championship meet at Ellet on May 11 when rain and wind challenged everyone competing.
Smith scored 36 points in the City Series championship meet, placing first in the high jump (6-2), first in the long jump (21-9), first in the 100 (11.67) and third in the 200 (24.47).
"Markeise was named MVP of the City Series championship," Gorby said. "Markeise has been doing the right things. He has been doing the work he is supposed to do in practice and in meets. He has been preparing himself very well."
Michael Beaven can be reached by email at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com and is on Twitter at @MBeavenABJ.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Garfield high jumper Markeise Smith is a state championship contender
