EvCC’s Ford sweeps jumping events at NWAC championships

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Jakobe Ford is now a one-of-a-kind.

The Everett Community College track and field athlete became the first male to ever sweep all three jumping events at the Northwest Athletic Conference Track and Field Championships, which wrapped up Tuesday at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, Ore.

“It feels good,” Ford, reached by cell phone, said about the accomplishment. “It feels like what I was going for this whole time.”

Ford, a freshman out of Shadle Park High School in Spokane, came into the meet as the heavy favorite in all three events. He began Monday by winning the long jump with a leap of 24 feet, 41⁄2 inches, which won the event by a foot. He followed up Tuesday first by winning the high jump with a height of 6-4, stopping at more than a foot lower than his personal best as he preserved himself for the triple jump. Finally, he won the triple jump with a distance of 50-111⁄4, a mark that broke the meet record.

“The long jump went pretty well, I was feeling good on the runway,” Ford said. “Today my legs were bothering me, so my high jump wan’t that good. But it all worked out in the end.”

This isn’t the first time Ford has pulled off the impressive triple at a prestigious meet. He won all three events last spring at the high school 3A state meet, then pulled it off again in July at the USATF Hershey National Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships.

Ford said he has aspirations of competing beyond the scholastic level. He plans on returning to Everett for his sophomore season.