Another Smith from Warren Central, another state champion. Kira Smith wins high jump
INDIANAPOLIS – If it is June in Indiana, a Smith sister from Warren Central is winning a state championship.
In 2024, Laila Smith ran to a state title in the 300-meter hurdles. In 2025, Samaya Smith won state singles in tennis. And on Friday night, Kira Smith won state in the high jump.
“I’m really proud of my sisters and everything that they’ve done,” Kira said. “To be able to add to the list of state champions feels really nice.”
Or it’s nice if you don’t have to suffer as Kira’s coach does. If you’re a parent, you get it … because her coach is her father, Steve, a hall-of-fame high jumper.
Steve Smith said he felt calm when he competed, but it’s “nerve-wracking” to coach his daughter.
“I hate to videotape because it shakes a lot,” said the father, a former NCAA runner-up for Indiana State. “So hopefully, the family got better recordings than I did.”
The gratifying part? Daughter reminds father of himself, mimicking his jumping form.
“She’s really a clone of what I did,” Steve said.
The three sisters collaborated at the 2024 state track meet, helping Warren Central to a team championship. The head coach is their mother, Le’gretta Smith. The two older sisters were at North Central High School to cheer Kira. Laila didn’t arrive in Indianapolis until Friday night from TCU, where she is a hurdler and long jumper.
The outcome wasn’t inevitable, even with Kira having won at New Balance indoor nationals and repeating at the state indoor meet. She missed her opening attempt – at 5 feet, 4 inches – and fell to 12th place.
The junior jumped 5-6 and 5-7 on first attempts, and 5-8 on the third – as did Northview senior Karsyn Buck. They were tied.
Kira went ahead by making 5-9 and 5-10 on first attempts, wiggling the bar on each clearance.
At this facility a month ago, she jumped 6-1 — first in the world among under-18 girls, according to World Athletics. She next heads to Eugene, Ore., for the under-20 USA Championships and a bid to make the team for August’s U20 World Championships.
“I wasn’t able to jump my best today or PR (set personal record). But I’m blessed to get another opportunity,” Kira said.
Soon after the high jump ended, she won the first of three sections of the 300 hurdles – an event in which Laila was a state champion and cousin Ashley Spencer (an Olympic bronze medalist) was a 2011 state runner-up. Kira finished sixth overall in a PR of 44.59 seconds.
Sotelo a hooper who knows how to hurdle
It takes a special set of skills to be a point guard. Bella Sotelo has those, and she was an All-Mid-Eastern Conference basketball player for Eastern Hancock, averaging 11.5 points and 2.8 assists per game.
And hoops is not even the junior’s best sport.
In perhaps the biggest upset of the meet, Sotelo overtook Hamilton Southeastern’s Chloe Senefeld to win the 300 hurdles in 41.49. Sotelo was .13 off the state record held by Fort Wayne Concordia Lutheran’s Symone Black since 2014. Senefeld, second on the Indiana all-time list at 41.44, finished second in 42.19.
Sotelo said she was off balance over the first four of eight hurdles and scrambled to keep up with the fast-starting Senefeld.
“She started slowing, so I kept pushing,” Sotelo said. “I finally passed her and got it. I was shocked that I did. I can’t explain what happened, really.”
Earlier, Sotelo was second in the 100 hurdles behind Merrillville sophomore Jadyn Fort, who ran 13.86 into a headwind (-1.8 meters per second). Sotelo’s time was 14.03.
Guerin vaulter: From no-height to champion
Guerin Catholic junior Amelia Smith was unbeaten against other Indiana girls in the pole vault last year until she arrived at state. Then she did not clear a bar. That is recorded as NH, or no height.
This time, she came from behind and vaulted 13 feet to become state champ.
“It was kind of a redemptive year,” the former gymnast said. “I mean, I’m doing it for myself this year. Last year it felt like I had to prove myself to a lot of people.”
On a day of shifting winds, Franklin senior Addison Martin led through 12-3 and 12-6. After first-attempt clearances at 12-9 and 13-0, Smith’s redemption was complete.
She had repeated as indoor state champion, and she was second at New Balance indoor nationals at 13-8 ½.
“I’ve just been consistent throughout my whole season,” Smith said. “It’s really big in pole vault, especially because it’s such an inconsistent sport.”
Notes
>> Butler’s college track program, which features distance runners, has picked up a sprinter. Indiana’s fastest sprinter, in fact: Chesterton senior Kenedi Bradley. The Butler signee won the 100 in 11.94 – into a -1.3 wind – and was a decisive .18 ahead of second place.
>> Brownsburg sophomore Nife Ogunyele missed qualifying for the 100 final by thousandths of a second, finishing 11th in prelims at 12.03. Ogunyele set a state indoor record at 60 meters. She anchored Brownsburg’s 4×100 relay but grabbed her hamstring as she approached the finish.
>> Fort Wayne Carroll junior Jordyn Ford, defending state champ in the 100 and 200, finished sixth and 10th, respectively.
Contact David Woods at dwoods1411@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Girls track and field: Warren Central’s Kira Smith a state champion
