By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

Markel Brown didn’t have the best day of his sophomore high school track season at the Class 3A state meet, placing sixth (22-5) in the long jump and eighth (46-0) in the triple jump, both distances short of his personal bests.

But, the important elements of that sentence, “sophomore” and “state meet,” lend encouragement to everyone involved with the Liberty High track program.

Coach Robert Pauley said knowing that Brown, who soon will begin his junior year at LHS, is returning along with his talented teammate, Joshua Wilson are returing for two more seasons makes it exciting to think about the future.

“This (state) meet was a good learning curve. We can’t complain as we had a great season. It will be exciting to see what happens next year,” he said. “Markel is the first athlete in school history to place in two events (at the state meet), so that was a great sight.”

Brown, the Osceola News-Gazette Male Track Athlete of the Year (with Harmony hurdler Daniel Foshee), said that being at the state meet, at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, was an interesting experience.

“I was happy that I made it there, but I could have done much better,” he said. “I don’t know what it was there, whether it was the heightness (sic) of being at the state track meet or what, but nobody was jumping like they did before.”

Brown, a district and regional long jump champion, said one reason he didn’t equal his season-best efforts of 46-6 in the triple jump or 23-1.5 in the long jump might be the way the jump runway was set up.

“The way they set down the marks was a little different than the way that I do it with the coaches at the other meets,” Brown said. “It was something that you had to get used to.”

It’s not that he embarrassed himself at the state meet, by any measure.

Brown was invited to participate at the Golden South Classic three weeks after the state meet.

The Golden South is one of the premier high school and college track meets in the nation.

Brown had a good meet, finishing second in the triple jump (46-6), equaling his season’s best, and placing fifth (21-8) in the long jump.

“It was an opportunity to go against the best,” he said.

Brown said he took to the jumps quickly, and with a 6-2 frame and 4.4 speed in the 40-yard dash, he has all the physical attributes coaches look for from their jumpers.

“I’ve always liked jumping,” he said. “I started in the sixth grade, mainly as something to stay in shape for football. Now, I like it a lot.”

Brown is a receiver for the Chargers football team and has the size and speed to project as a potential Division I recruit in that sport, Liberty football coach David Benson said.

“He’s already getting some looks. It’s definitely something that is within his grasp,” Benson said.

As it is with most premier track athletes, Brown is a busy young man during most regular season meets. In addition to the jumps, he runs the 400 meters and nearly qualified for the state meet in that event, finishing fifth at the regional meet.

“At the district meet, I was out doing the triple jump and had one of my final jumps in, then I had to run over and run the 400 (preliminary) and then come back and jump again right away,” he said.

“It wears you out pretty good, but you get used to it.”

Brown, who may continue to grow (“I have an uncle who is 6-6,” he said.), doesn’t plan to rest on his laurels.

He has big goals for next season.

“I think I can go 47-3 in the triple jump, and 24 feet in the long jump,” he said.

“If I can do that, then I can win state.”