Hop. Step. Jump. Hop. Step. Jump. No, that's not the latest dance craze, it's how track stars do the odd-looking but athletically impressive triple jump.
It's a difficult discipline to master, but La Quinta senior Kameron Hawkins has it down to a science.
Hawkins is among the top triple jumpers in the state. On March 15 at the Beaumont Cougar Classic, Hawkins set a personal best, meet record and school record triple jump of 48 feet, 11 inches. That is currently the third-best mark in the state of California in 2025.
He credits his early mentors when he was a freshman because to be good at the triple jump it's imperative that you have someone with knowledge to help you learn how to do it.
"I feel like the triple jump is not something you can just start from scratch and be good at," Hawkins said. "Because of that, it takes a lot of dedication. My freshman year was ... well, it was bad. Not a lot of fun, but you just have to stay with it and have a good mentality going into it. You have to know you're not going to PR every week. It's a hard process."
Let's face it, the triple jump is weird. You sprint, then hop off one foot and land on the same foot then take a giant step landing on your other foot and jumping from that foot into the sand pit. It feels like whoever invented it may have done it as a practical joke, but it's been contested in every modern Olympics since the start in 1896.
Hawkins said the hop, skip and jump rhythm is not for everyone.
"It's more for I guess coordinated people, you know?" he said with a laugh. "Like if you can understand the long jump, you can get a good idea how to triple, but even then you just gotta understand the movement because it's definitely a weird movement. Jumping off the same leg twice, it's very ... interesting."
Even as a freshman, Hawkins was athletic and coordinated enough to finish third in the DEL in the triple jump, and he's been honing it to perfection ever since.
Brian Ansley, the La Quinta track and field coach, said it's been impressive to watch the hard work pay off for Hawkins.
"It has been entertaining to watch Kam improve each year. He has been a confident competitor and has competed well in Southern Section D-1 year after year," Ansley said. "When he was introduced to the triple jump, it was a perfect fit. He cultivated his talents the last three years to become one of the best in the state."
Ansley added that Hawkins has become such a student of the sport that he is able to demonstrate his technique for his teammates to try to emulate.
That 48-foot, 11-inch leap by Hawkins at Beaumont was a number that he felt like he could reach at some point, but Hawkins said he was still caught off guard by it.
"I definitely thought I could hit that number but not that early in the ...
