Kameesha Smith Named Athlete of the Week after Strong Debut

NORMAL – After a stellar performance at the Notre Dame Invite last week, Redbird High Jumper Kameesha Smith has been named Missouri Valley Conference athlete of the week.

In her season debut, Smith jumped 1.77 meters which ranks her 1st in the valley and 18th nationally. Smith attributes her success to the off-season training laid out by her coaches.

“This is some of the best coaching that I have received in my entire life,” said Smith. “So with that combination of the weight room training and good coaching it makes it impossible for you to fail.”

The meet in South Bend featured some elite competition from the Fighting Irish and Louisville Cardinals. It was that competition, and her teammates, that helped Smith record an indoor personal-best.

“Ultimately they were great competition, everybody was jumping really well,” said Smith.  “And then I also had two of my teammates competing with me although it was just my season debut, and they had already been jumping so there was some expectation of myself to go out there and jump to the best of my abilities.”

Smith added that her goal is to jump 1.81 meters to secure a spot in Nationals.

The Redbirds return to the track for the Adidas Classic hosted by Nebraska this Saturday at 11:30 A.M.