ESPN RISE

Marquise Goodwin stepped off the plane at DFW International Airport last summer with a little extra weight around his neck. The Rowlett (Texas) senior was returning from Poland, where he earned gold medals in the long jump and the 4x100-meter relay at the IAAF World Junior Championships.

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ESPN RISE Magazine

Marquise Goodwin took home two gold medals at the World Junior Championships.

Rather than carry the medals in his luggage, Goodwin decided to wear them as he walked through the terminal. Waiting for him were his club track coach, Darrell Jackson; his high school coach, David Nanez; and Nanez's wife. And all of them began waving mini American flags once Goodwin was in sight. That's when he realized the magnitude of his achievement.

"It gave me goose bumps," Goodwin says.

The wins at the World Junior Championships capped a whirlwind 2008 for Goodwin. Along with his two world titles, he also took home five medals (three gold) from the Class 5A state meet to lead Rowlett to its first-ever team state crown. The 2008 Gatorade State Track & Field Athlete of the Year, Goodwin also won long jump titles at the Nike Indoor Nationals and the USA Junior Outdoor Championships last year.

But once he returned to Rowlett in the fall, Goodwin didn't boast about his scintillating summer. Others are more than happy to do that for him.

"Marquise is a great kid," Rowlett principal Marlene Hammerle says. "He's done everything. We have a lot of great kids, but Marquise is a great representative of Rowlett. Marquise is very low key. He's not one to brag about himself."

Bragging would be easy considering Goodwin's athletic résumé. Rated the nation's No. 1 boys' track and field recruit in the ESPNU DyeStat rankings, the long jumper/triple jumper/sprinter has signed with track power Texas, where he also plans to walk on to the football team as a wide receiver. The 5-foot-9, 170-pounder caught 44 passes for 651 yards and seven touchdowns in the fall and finished the season rated the nation's No. 24 wideout in the ESPNU 150.

Despite having already accomplished what most high school kids could only dream of, Goodwin tirelessly continues to practice like he's trying to prove himself all over again. This spring, he trained twice a day -- once with his high school team and again on his own or with his club coach.

Yeah, the gold medals are nice, but those are in the past. It's just not in his DNA to take a day off. He owes it to himself. And he owes it to his family. His mother, Tamina, and three younger sisters all look up to him. And they in turn motivate him to give it his all in practice, particularly Deja, the oldest of Goodwin's sisters, who was born with cerebral palsy and is confined to a wheelchair.

"She is my inspiration," Goodwin says. "It's always been like that. She makes me want to do better every time. Why should I not try at practice when for one day she would love to do this?"

So he pushes forward every day, no matter how tired or sore he is from competitions. The extra practice combined with his freakish natural athletic ability has helped Goodwin make steady improvement every season at Rowlett. He showed flashes of his enormous potential as a freshman when he became the first boys' track athlete at Rowlett to qualify for the Class 5A state meet. But a hamstring injury hampered his performance, and he struggled to a seventh-place finish out of eight competitors in the long jump. Goodwin bounced back in a big way as a sophomore with district and regional titles in the long jump and triple jump. At the state meet, he captured his first state title -- and the first in the program's history -- with a victory in the long jump and also took second in the triple jump. He followed with a long jump title at the Nike Outdoor Nationals to complete his transformation from a kid with potential to a bona fide star.

"We're probably never going to get an athlete like him again," Nanez says. "He's a one and only."

Last year, Nanez watched Goodwin compete in five events at the Class 5A state meet -- long jump, triple jump, 100-meter dash, 4x100 relay and 4x200 relay. He snagged titles in the long jump, triple jump and 4x100 relay, a silver in the 100 and a bronze on the 4x200. His long jump of 26 feet, 1.5 inches was the top mark in the nation last year and would have shattered the state record of 25-06.00 had it not been wind-aided.

But nothing could compare to his performance at the World Junior Championships, where Goodwin admits he was antsy before competing in the long jump.

"That was my first time being in a competition like that," he says. "Knowing I had to do everything right in order to win made me nervous. And I hardly ever get nervous."

If Goodwin was nervous, it sure didn't show as he delivered a first-place jump of 25-04.75 with world record holder Mike Powell watching. He also ran the third leg on the gold medal 4x100 relay team. By the time all was said and done, he was the only high school-aged competitor to win individual gold.

"He normally rises to the occasion when it comes to big meets," Nanez says. "We always tell our kids to work hard because there is always somebody better. But in this case, there isn't."

Even as he proudly strolled through his hometown airport with gold medals hanging around his neck, Goodwin didn't want to be treated any different than when he left for Poland.

"I felt like the same Marquise," he says. "I didn't feel any worse about myself or any better. And that's how I'm always going to be."

Jon Mahoney covers high school sports for ESPN RISE Magazine.