He has uncorked his share of record-setting jumps during his time at Kentlake High.

Earlier this week, Zach Smith uncorked another personal highlight, when he announced that he will attend the University of New Mexico in the fall on a track and field scholarship.

There were plenty of reasons Smith chose the University of New Mexico, one of them being the fact that his older sister, Brittany, a 2005 Kentlake graduate, already is part of the track and field team at the Albuquerque-based university.

The other was the coaching, Smith noted.

“One of the coaches there, Leo Settle, I think can do a lot for me,” Smith said. “I just really liked the coaching staff.”

If Smith’s time at New Mexico is anything like that at Kentlake, the coaches will be certain to like him as well. After enduring his share of back injuries during his first two years of high school, a healthy Smith delivered one of the finest seasons around last year. He won the Class 4A state long jump title with a leap of 23-feet, 3 inches.

Yet, if anyone in the South Puget Sound League North Division is prepared for an encore, it’s Smith. Because just two weeks ago at the Nike Indoor Nationals in Boston, Mass., he ripped off another record leap, winning the long jump with a personal best 23-11

Now it’s on to the regular season, where Smith enters this spring as a heavy favorite to win one of the state’s deepest events.

“It’s my number-one priority,” he said.