Top Moment of the Meet (3): Okay, so Who Is McKenna Smith?
I had this same feeling almost exactly 16 months ago to do the day when I watched Brie Oakley destroy the field at the Arvada West (Cross Country) Invitational. Who IS this girl?!
Well, it's time to ask that same question about McKenna Smith. I have a reasonably comprehensive database of Colorado high school track and field athletes, and there is no McKenna Smith in that database. Much less is there a McKenna Smith with certifiable wheels.
So, we're all about to learn something here, maybe a lot like what we learned about Brie Oakley.
Smith won last night's 200 at 26.84. That's not quite other-worldly, but is it blistering fast on the Mines indoor oval. All the more so out of lane two, where the lean is starting to get pretty intense.
Smith wasn't done yet. She came back in the 400 and won it in 1:00.91. But, that's only a fraction of the story.
The rest of the story includes the fact that the runner in lane four never heard the electronic "gun" and stayed in position in her blocks. Dumbfounded, the rest of the field backed off on the start, assuming either a) they had mistakenly heard the start, or b) the race would be recalled. Both a) and b) proved to be wrong, meaning nobody came out of the final heat of the 400 with a scintillating time.
All that to say Smith is probably a lot faster than 1:00.91, even on the Steinhauer oval.
Now, if only we could figure out who she's running for this spring...
Late Note: Smith did not win the 60 meter dash. That honor went to Taylor Watson, but she did post a 7.78. Nobody is going to dispute that is fast.