After falling just short a year ago, Brandon Goodman finally got his state title in the high jump.

The Etowah senior surpassed last year’s runner-up finish, jumping 6 feet, 8 inches to win the Class AAAAA state crown.

With that, Goodman is the 2012 Cherokee Tribune Boys Track and Field Athlete of the Year.

It was the perfect ending to an outstanding high school career for Goodman, who’s hoping to continue his track and field success on the college level at the U.S. Naval Academy.

“It feels pretty good to end my high school career on such a good note,” he said. “I felt like I did the best I could, and now, I’m going to try to continue my success in college.”

Goodman also qualified for the state meet in the 400-meter dash, where he finished 15th in the preliminary round.

While Goodman set a personal-best mark of 6-10 in the high jump at the county meet, he barely missed his goal of jumping 7 feet.

“One of my personal goals was to jump 7 feet, and I came so close,” Goodman said. “I came so close to realizing it, and that taught me not to give up.”

Goodman was dominant at the Cherokee County championships, where he won the high jump and the 400 dash (51.12 seconds). He added a runner-up finish in the 200 dash (23.04) to claim the award as the top boys individual scorer.

“It was a great meet,” Goodman said of the county championships. “I jumped 6-10, and it made me realize that I could jump 6-10 and even improve on that.”

After jumping 6-8 to win the high jump at the Region 5AAAAA meet, where he also finished third in the 400 dash, Goodman suffered a minor setback a week later at the sectionals. He finished second in the high jump at 6-6 — the first time he didn’t win a competition in that event all season.

“It wasn’t my best performance, but it was just a hiccup,” Goodman said.

Two weeks later at the state meet, Goodman proved that the sectional performance was a minor bump in the road. He and Brookwood’s Bilal Abdullah both cleared 6-10, but Goodman won the state title based on fewer jumps missed.

“This was my second year at state, so I knew what to expect,” Goodman said. “I struggled with my first few jumps, but, after that, I was fine.”

Goodman is now headed to Navy, which he selected over VMI and Tusculum.

“They just had a great team and a great coach,” Goodman said. “I just think it’s a great opportunity for me.”