Waukesha West's Cole Zielinski wins the state triple jump by two inches — a year after placing 10th
LA CROSSE — A year ago, Cole Zielinski finished 10th in the triple jump at the state meet. On Friday he won it — and it came down to a couple of inches.
Cole Zielinski of Waukesha West jumped 48 feet, 2 inches to take the Division 1 boys' triple jump at the WIAA State Championships, the longest jump of the competition by the narrowest of margins. D.C. Everest's Xavier Edwards reached 47-11¾ — two and a quarter inches short.
The winning mark was the best of Zielinski's season, saved for the day it counted. He had built to it all spring: 46-1 in April, 47-6 to win the Classic 8 Conference meet, then 47-9½ at the sectional a week earlier. At state he went a step further and cleared 48 feet for the first time, exactly when the title was on the line.
It's a long way from where he stood a year ago. At the 2025 state meet Zielinski placed 10th in the triple jump at 45-0¼; this season he added more than three feet and turned that into a championship.
The triple jump is only half of his ledger. Zielinski is one of the state's premier long jumpers too — he won the Division 1 long jump title at the 2025 state meet at 24-5, and reached 24-4¼ this season, among the best marks in Wisconsin. Twelve months after a tenth-place finish, he leaves La Crosse a state triple-jump champion.
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