Atchison senior breaks 39-year triple jump record in second meet

Atchison High School senior Leighton Boldridge turned only his second career track meet into school history Thursday evening, breaking a triple jump record that had stood for 39 years with a leap of 46 feet, 2.5 inches at Bonner Springs High School.

The jump came at the 2026 Bonner Springs Invite on April 23, a regular invitational setting that made the result even more striking. Boldridge is a first-year track and field competitor, so the performance was not the product of years in the event. It was an immediate breakthrough from an athlete still learning the sport and already good enough to reset one of Atchison High’s longest-standing marks.

A record that survives nearly four decades usually becomes part of a program’s memory. Boldridge ended that run with one jump, giving Atchison High a new standard in the horizontal jumps and an early-season highlight that could carry through the spring. For a senior, the timing matters too. Boldridge did not just produce a promising mark for the future; he delivered a school record now, in the present, before his track career has even reached its second meet.

The achievement also says something about the way smaller-school programs are often built. Athletes learn fast, take chances, and sometimes discover a new event that fits. Boldridge, who has also been listed as an Atchison athlete in football, showed how quickly a multisport senior can reshape expectations in another sport. For Atchison High, the result is a visible boost of momentum and a new name at the top of the record board.

The leap also stands out in broader Kansas terms. The Kansas boys outdoor triple jump state record is 51 feet, 7 3/4 inches, set by Reggie Jones of Wyandotte in 1989. Boldridge’s 46-2.5 was still well short of that statewide standard, but it was a major program-level performance, especially for an athlete making such a fast transition into track. Atchison now has a record holder who arrived in the event almost overnight, and that kind of leap can change how a season feels inside a school.