After sitting out nearly a year, Highland graduate Floyd Whitaker has resurfaced at Oklahoma and came within two inches of his lifetime-best in the triple jump in his first meet ever for the Sooners.
Whitaker, in his first meet since March of 2023, jumped 51-3 ½ at the Corky Classic at the Texas Tech Sports Performance Center in Lubbock. He had an outstanding series, with 50-7 ¾, 50-8 ½, 50-5, 51-3 ½ and 49-10 ¾ with a foul on his 5th attempt. Whitaker averaged 50-7 on his five legal jumps.
The 51-3 ½ – the 2nd-best jump of his life – puts Whitaker at No. 22 in NCAA Division 1. Teammate Brandon Green Jr. is No. 2 with a 54-6 ½ this past weekend.
Incredibly, Oklahoma does not have any historical info on its web site. No top-10 lists, only a dead link under program history.
Whitaker is No. 10 among U.S. jumpers – it seems a high percentage of NCAA triple jumpers represent other countries.
Whitaker spent the 2021-2022 indoor season, 2022 outdoor season and 2022-2023 indoor season at Minnesota, where he hit 51-5 ½ indoors in a meet in Minneapolis in January 2022 and 51-2 ¼ outdoors in May 2022. Minnesota doesn’t have an indoor track team so he competed unattatched during the two indoor seasons.
Whitaker’s 51-5 ½ two years ago ranks No. 2 in South Jersey alumni history, behind only Shawnee graduate Greg Foster, who hit 53-6 ½ in Flagstaff, Ariz., in May 1988. Foster’s son, also Greg, currently jumps for Princeton and reached 50-4 ¾ last spring.
At Highland, Whitaker hit 23-6 ½ in the long jump at the 2021 state Group 3 meet at Pennsauken and 50-2 ½ to win the 2019 Meet of Champions, the first of his three Meet of Champions titles and No. 6 in New Jersey history. He was unbeaten in the triple jump as a senior, capping his career with a win at the Eugene Nationals. He also ran 54.85 in the intermediates and high jumped 6-4 in high school.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 