Floyd Whitaker PR’d for the third meet in a row and placed 2nd in the triple jump Friday at the NCAA Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., earning 1st-team All-America honors.
Whitaker, an Oklahoma senior from Clementon aned Highland High School, jumped a lifetime-best 53-10 ¼ with a legal 0.1 tailwind on his 3rd attempt.
That’s No. 11 among U.S. men this year and the 3rd-best mark ever by a New Jersey triple jumper, behind East Orange’s Norm Tate [54-9 ½ in 1970 in Stuttgart, Germany] and Piscataway’s Eric Bethea [54-7 ½ in Austin in 2019].
Whitaker surpassed the South Jersey all-time alumni mark of 53-6 ½, set by Shawnee graduate Greg Foster in Flagstaff, Ariz., in 1988. Foster’s son Gregory, a senior at Princeton, placed 7th in the NCAA long jump on Wednesday.
Whitaker had four of his six-best jumps ever in his series.
Teammate Brandon Green Jr. won the NCAA title with a 55-2 on his final attempt and had the five-best jumps of the competition. With the 1-2 finish, Oklahoma moved into 5th place in team scoring with 30 1/2 points,
Whitaker surpassed 53 feet for the first time with a 53-1 ½ at the SEC Championships in Lexington last month, then 53-4 ½ at NCAA West Prelims late last month in College Station, Texas.
On Friday, he opened with a 51-9 before a 52-9 ½ on his 2nd attempt, the 4th-best jump of his life. He added a 52-4 ¾ on his 4th attempt, his 6th-best jump all-time. After a 47-0 ¼, he finished with a 52-5 ¼, his 5th-best jump ever. All six of his jumps were wind-legal.
Whitaker jumped 50-2 ½ with no wind gauge to win the 2019 Meet of Champions at Northern Burlington and also won indoor MoC the next year at the Bubble with a 46-3 ¼. He was undefeated as a senior, winning the Meet of Champions with a 49-7 at South Plainfield and Outdoor Nationals at the same Hayward Field triple jump pit with a 49-11 ½.
He competed for one year at Minnesota with a best jump of 51-5 ½ – on the first jump of his first college meet – before transferring to Oklahoma.
Floyd Whitaker 52-Foot Jumps
53-10 ¼ … NCAA Outdoor Championships, Eugene, Ore., June 13, 2025
53-4 ½ … NCAA West Prelims, College Station, Texas, May 31, 2025
53-1 ½ … SEC Championships, Lexington, Ky., May 17, 2025
52-9 ½ … NCAA Outdoor Championships, Eugene, Ore., June 13, 2025
52-5 ¼ … NCAA Outdoor Championships, Eugene, Ore., June 13, 2025
52-4 … NCAA Outdoor Championships, Eugene, Ore., June 13, 2025
52-3 ¼ … Big 12 Indoor Championships, Lubbock, Texas, Feb. 24, 2024
52-3 ¼ … Owen Hewett Invitational, Norman, Okla., Jan. 17, 2025
52-2 … NCAA Indoor Championships, Virginia Beach, March 14, 2025
All-Time Top New Jersey Alumni Triple Jumpers
54-9 ½ … Norm Tate [East Orange], July 16, 1970, Stuttgart, Germany
54-7 ½ … Eric Bethea [Piscataway], June 7, 2019, Austin, Texas [+0.9]
53-10 ¼ … NCAA Outdoor Championships, Eugene, Ore., June 13, 2025 [+0.9]
53-7 ¼ … Devon Bond [Trenton], May 5, 2012, Lubbock, Texas [+1.5]
53-6 ½ … Greg Foster [Shawnee], May 14, 1988, Flagstaff, Ariz.
53-1 ½ … Floyd Whitaker [Highland], May 17, 2025, Lexington, Ky. [+0.9]
53-1 ¼ … Chris Phipps [Lodi], July 8, 2012, Irapuato, Mexico [+1.2]
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 