Claye breaks own Ariz. triple-jump record

The state championship was already awarded, and he had a new Arizona state record in tow.

But like any record-breaking competitor, Mountain Pointe junior Will Claye wanted more.

"It feels great to win state," Claye said immediately following his final jump, "but I want to go again, right now."

Claye broke his own Arizona mark in the triple jump at Saturday's Class 5A-Division I state track and field championships, held locally at Desert Vista.

Claye's triple jump of 52 feet, 4.75 inches broke his own state record - set a month earlier at the prestigious Arcadia (Calif.) Invitational - of 51 feet, 7.5 inches, and bested rival friend Bryce Lamb of Chandler by nearly two inches. Lamb's jump of 52-2 would have been the new record, had Claye not beaten him to it.

Claye said going back-and-forth with Lamb - Lamb won the title last season, followed immediately by Claye - can serve as motivation, but added that it really doesn't matter who's watching.

"Every time I go out, I'm going to try and jump further," said Claye, who also finished third in the long jump, an event won by Lamb. "It doesn't matter what the competition is like."

Claye said that, in a way, he's competing with himself and his own ceiling every time out, adding that he has no idea when he'll hit that ceiling.

"Hopefully never," he said. "That's the goal, to always get better."

Lamb, also a junior, might have a chance to surpass Claye's high school state mark next season if Claye has his way.

"This might be my last state. I'm trying to graduate high school early and go straight to college," he said, adding that if he enrolls at the college level for the spring 2009 semester, he should be allowed to compete on an NCAA track and field team as a freshman.

Desert Vista's Luke Matthews finished third with a jump of 46 feet, 8.75 inches.