Emma Smith arranged all of her plaques, trophies, certificates and medals that he has won over the four years competing in track and field at Delcambre High School. Smith, 16, has accomplished a lot in her high school track and field career, where she high jumps and runs the hurdles.
Delcambre High junior Emma Smith, who is 5-foot-6 and a half, stood beneath the high jump bar she had just cleared. The bar was set at 5-10, making it three and a half inches taller than her. She reached this personal best height on her first try this past weekend at McNeese.
Delcambre’s Emma Smith is flying high
DELCAMBRE – This weekend, 16-year-old Emma Smith, a junior at Delcambre, competed at the McNeese University Indoor High School Track and Field Meet in Lake Charles and delivered an outstanding performance.
Smith, who has won the state high jump title twice, set a personal best and broke the meet and facilties record by clearing 5 feet 10 inches at McNeese’s Recreational Center.
With this jump, she is now the top-ranked high school female high jumper in Louisiana for 2026 and is tied for second place among female high school high jumpers in the country. The highest jump by a high school girl this year is 5 feet 10.5 inches.
She also holds the number one national ranking among 16-year-old high jumpers.
When Emma cleared the bar at 5-10 at McNeese, she believed it was set at 5-9.
After clearing 5-8, both Emma and another competitor thought the bar was now at 5-9. Emma focused and cleared it on her first try, leaving the bar untouched. Her competitor missed, so Emma won the event.
When she walked over to the bar, track officials told her it was actually set at 5-10, not 5-9.
“They told me, and the first thing I did was look at my mom with my mouth open,” Smith said. “She was the first person I talked to after I found out it was 5-10. I was excited.”
The bar was then raised to 5-11, but Emma couldn’t clear it cleanly. Now, she has a new goal to aim for.
“Jumping that height (5-10) gives me more confidence, but it also puts more pressure on me,” she said. “It gets harder to go higher.”
The Louisiana girls’ high school high jump record is 6-0, set by Gretchen Francois of Iota High School in 1994. The national high school high jump record is 6-6 1/2, set in 2016.
No Vermilion Parish female high jumper has ever jumped 5-10.
The high school indoor track season is almost over, with just one meet left before the state meet on Feb. 21.
This weekend, Smith will compete at the LSU Indoor High School meet. The indoor state meet will also be held there in two weeks, and she is the favorite to win.
Even though she is only a junior, Smith is already getting attention from college track coaches. Several colleges have contacted her, but she isn’t ready to share which ones yet.
Smith is the daughter of Lynn Amedee and her stepfather, Jason Amedee.