While at Middle Tennessee he was the long jump runner-up at National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) level on three occasions, coming second at the 1993 NCAA Indoor Championships and the 1992 and 1994 NCAA Outdoors (to Erick Walder each time).[2][3][4] He earned nine NCAA All-America honours during the period from 1990 to 1994. He also won four straight Ohio Valley Conference regional titles in the long jump and 100-meter dash, as well as three triple jump and two 200-meter dash titles. He was later inducted into the Blue Raiders hall of fame.[5]
In terms of performance, McGhee entered the top ten jumpers nationally in the 1992 season with a jump of 8.06 m (26 ft 5+1⁄4 in).[2] He improved to 8.38 m (27 ft 5+3⁄4 in) in the 1993 season, which ranked him sixth in the world, then moved up to fifth in 1994 with a new personal record of 8.47 m (27 ft 9+1⁄4 in). His career highest placings were fourth in the 1995 and 1998 seasons.[6]
McGhee was a regular feature on the international professional track circuit in the late 1990s. He was a finalist at the IAAF Grand Prix Final in 1995, 1997 and 1999.[8] His career best came in lower-level competition: at the Grande Premio Brasil Caixa de Atletismo he jumped 8.51 m (27 ft 11 in) to lift himself into the all-time top twenty athletes for the long jump.[1] This remains the meeting record.[11]