Track & Field: Riverhead’s triple jumpers save best for last

SECTION XI DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIPS

Davion Porter is the relative newcomer to the triple jump. Marcus Moore is the veteran.

Porter is quick to remind his Riverhead teammate of that fact.

“I talk a lot of smack,” said Porter, a senior. “This is my first year doing this. First season ever tripling. And [Moore’s] been doing this since middle school.” 

On his final triple jump at Tuesday’s Division II Championship at Longwood High School, Porter popped his best jump of the season at 44 feet 4 1/2 inches, momentarily propelling himself into second place in the competition and ahead of his teammate, Moore.

Porter darted toward Moore after the jump and the two embraced, smiling and laughing.

But Moore still had one jump left.

And just like Porter, Moore saved his best for last, setting his own personal best of 45-1.

“I can’t let you beat me,” Moore said to his teammate after the official read aloud the distance.

Moore’s jump allowed him to leapfrog his teammate and finish second in the competition. Porter settled for third.

On a day where Smithtown East’s Michael Camera popped a huge jump of more than 47 feet to win the competition, the two Riverhead jumpers walked away all smiles for their performance.

For Moore, the big jump at the end came as a bit of a surprise.

“It was a weird day for me,” he said. “Usually I give my best jump those first two jumps I take. I kept getting scared because I didn’t think I was going to make finals at first.”

In the triple jump, there are two flights of competitors. Then the top seven advance to the finals. For the seven finalists, the best jump of the day is used to determine the final places.

Moore needed to nail his last jump in his flight to get himself into the finals. Once he got there, his jumps kept improving. He went from 41-9 1/2 to 43-9 1/2 to finally his season’s best of 45-1.

Moore finished second in the triple jump at divisions last year as well, albiet with a lesser jump of 42-10.

“I was like, ‘I’m not trying to finish second as a junior and then my senior year do worse,'” Moore said.

For Moore, the triple jump is his main focus. Porter will shift his attention to the high jump on the second day of the competition Thursday. He also ran the 200 but did not advance into the finals.