High School Spring Sports : Wilkinson’s Jump Again Jolts Taft

For the second year in a row, the outcome of the Taft-Reseda West Valley League track meet rested on the triple jump, the final event of the meet.

And for the second consecutive year, Reseda’s Ronald Wilkinson stunned the Toreadors, the two-time defending City Section champions. Wilkinson, an All-City 2-A Division running back in 1986, bounded a season-best 44 feet, 7 1/2 inches in the sixth round to overtake Yomo Smith of Taft on Friday and give Reseda a 67-59 victory over Taft.

Reseda is 3-0 and Taft is 1-1.

Smith, who was competing in the triple jump for the first time, had jumped 43-1 earlier in the round to wrest the lead from Wilkinson, who had jumped 42-11 1/2 on his fourth attempt.

“I was surprised he jumped that far,” the soft-spoken Wilkinson said. “He told me it was his first time, but he didn’t jump like it was.”

Wilkinson had leaped 20-3 to win the long jump earlier in the day and ran the third leg on Reseda’s victorious mile-relay team, making up eight yards on Taft’s Darren Matthews.

“He’s the guy you want to go into battle with,” Reseda assistant Steve Caminiti said of Wilkinson, who placed third and fourth in the triple jump and long jump at last year’s City championships. “He always gives you his best performances when he has to.”

Wilkinson’s dramatic victory in the triple jump stole some of the limelight from Taft’s Quincy Watts, who won the 220 in 21.8, the 440 in 48.6 and anchored the Toreadors’ 440-relay team to victory in 43.9.

Watts also was entered in the 100 meters but was disqualified after a false start.