Article/photos submitted on behalf of Souderton girls’ track and field. Destini Smith photos provided courtesy of Tracy Valko. Check back for galleries of Penn Relay photos: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f798915044
Destini Smith arrived at Souderton in December of 2022, a transfer from Upper Merion who excelled in track and field. The then sophomore was arguably the best Christmas gift the Souderton girls’ track team ever received.
“I have a friend who coaches at Upper Merion who told me – ‘You’re getting a good one,’” Souderton jumps coach Rick Hess said. “I have indoor mats for high jump where I teach (at Indian Crest Middle School). She came in and started high jumping, and I said to her – ‘Did you ever run hurdles?’ and she said ‘no.’ I said, ‘Did you ever triple jump or long jump?’ She said, ‘No I have no interest in that. I high jump.’”
That was then, and this is now.
Last Thursday, Smith finished seventh in triple jump at the prestigious Penn Relays in the High School Girls’ Championships with a personal best of 40-8.25. She was the third American behind four Jamaicans.
She’s a natural,” Hess said.
There’s no other explanation for Smith’s mercurial rise in an event she first tried back in December.
“She only jumped about six total times before finishing third at Penn State Indoor States,” Hess said of the Souderton junior, who also finished fifth in high jump.
Now competing in the spring outdoor season, Smith recently broke the 44-year-old school records set by Colleen Nuschke Wurz in 1980 in both triple jump and long.
Wurz – a member of the school’s Wall of Fame – was Souderton’s first track and field athlete to compete in states and medaled four straight years. Back then, the cinder track around the football field at the old high school located on School Lane did not meet regulation specs.
“We never ran on it because the first lane was too short, so we had to go to the middle school, and all the high schoolers would just go through town,” Wurz recalled. “There was no route. We had to run down to Indian Crest. There was no role call to find out who made it, who’s showing up.
“One of my neighbors was a shot putter, and she’d say, ‘Col, run with me.’ She always wanted to stop at the bakery for a donut. We were like cockroaches going through town, trying to find our way to the middle school. No bus. It was the stone ages.”
Last Wednesday, the former record holder and new record holder met at Souderton’s track. The old and the new.
Wurz is ecstatic to see her record broken.
“It was definitely time – it’s been time,” she said. “I was a jump coach here, and I was trying to coach somebody to beat my records, and that was 20 years ago.
“It’s unheard of to be that good that quickly, which is awesome. She just has so much potential beyond where she is now.”
And then addressing Smith, she said. “I’m so excited for you. What a great person to pass it off to. I’ve been looking for someone to do this for 40 years. You’re just getting started, and your future is so bright. What a great day, I’m really proud of you.”
Smith – a member of Souderton’s 4x100 that medaled at states last spring - admits she was a reluctant triple jumper.
“It definitely did not seem like it would ever happen. Ever,” she said. “Never in a hundred years did I think I would be a triple jumper. I thought I was strictly high jump and sprints.”
Hess, however, wasn’t the only coach to suggest Smith could excel at triple jump. Ibrain Medina, a volunteer coach at Souderton, had similar thoughts.
“He said, ‘You have really long legs – I see you doing triple,’’ Smith said. “At first, I was like – ‘It looks too tricky, it looks too dangerous. No, I don’t want to do it,’ but he introduced me to it. I won the Meet of Champions, and I went to (indoor) states.”
The rest is history.
Smith is ranked number one in the state in triple jump, and in addition to breaking the record of Wurz (37’4.5”), she has already broken her own record several times.
Although she has made the transition look effortless, she insists it was not.
“It definitely wasn’t easy,” Smith said. “At first, it was really repetitive. I couldn’t get this phase right, I couldn’t get that phase right. Just constantly doing drills and stuff – it made it easier for me in the long run.”
Smith also broke Wurz’s long jump record set in 1980 of 18-4 with a jump of 18’ 5.5” and admits the days of identifying herself as a high jumper and sprinter are in the past.
“I would definitely call myself a triple jumper,” the Souderton junior said. “I would definitely say I’m a triple jumper.”
- Log in to post comments
