Toussaint sails in triple jump to set standard

Rashad Toussaint predicted a state-best triple jump this season and there was no reason to doubt him.

There was plenty of reason to doubt that history would be made on Thursday.

Despite the early-season timing and less than ideal conditions, Toussaint soared farther than any other high school triple jumper in Washington history.

The West Valley senior bounded 50 feet, 8¾ inches at Lewis and Clark’s Hart Field, shattering the year-old state best by more than a half-foot.

“I felt it today, to tell you the truth,” Toussaint said. “I barely scratched on 49-11½ and my second phase was real strong. When I got that down I knew I would be out there. I told my coach, ‘I’m jumping 50 feet right now.’ And he said, ‘Do it.’ “

Though there was a cold wind most of the day, WV head coach Jim McLachlan, who missed the jump, said, “There was no wind, absolutely no wind. It was blowing hard earlier, but it stopped by the time they triple jumped. When we got there at 3:30 it was snowing, sleeting, hailing and it was really blowing.”

The previous prep best was 50-2, recorded by Kyle Jenkins of Thomas Jefferson at the Pasco Invite last April 17. Toussaint’s jump was the 13th-best by a Washington high school graduate.

“My goal is to go 53,” Toussaint said.

The all-time best is 53-9¾ in 1998 by Gregg Bleakney, a Bainbridge graduate who was competing for the University of Oregon.

Toussaint went 48-7 after a slight toe scratch on his first jump.

“He had three events before the triple jump,” McLachlan said. “We tried to get him to stop after he went 48 because he has a sore heel. He said, ‘No coach, I’m feeling it. I’m feeling it.’ He was right.”

Toussaint’s previous best was a wind-aided 49-2½ in winning the State 3A meet in Pasco last year. Last weekend at a meet in Arcadia, Calif., he had a legal jump of 48-7½.

Toussaint’s jump is the best in the nation this weekend. Nkosinza Balumbu of Union City, Calif., had the previous best when he went 49-8 in beating Toussaint last weekend. Balumbu also has a wind-aided jump of 52-4.