Junior jumper Phil Puccino came to Eastern as a walk-on and worked his way to being one of the best jumpers in school history.

“[Puccino] is our jumps captain and he is the core of our men’s jumping program right now,” said jumps coach Erik Rassmussen.

Being adaptive in track and field has helped Puccino compete in multiple decathlete events and qualify for triple events in the 2014 Big Sky Indoor Championship.

While attending Steilacoom High School, Puccino’s best performances came in the triple jump, at 46-9, and long jump, at 22-10 1/2, which broke his school records. He competed in the 60-meters, 100-meters and 200-meters dash, 110-meter hurdles, 300-meter hurdles, 4×100 relay and the high jump.

Puccino reached the 2A WIAA State Championships three times and was in the top five in 2008 and 2009 for the 110-meter hurdles and 2009 for the long jump.

After graduation, he attended a camp down in Oklahoma and stayed with his father, during the camp he was recruited by Coffeyville Community College in Kansas.

“I was recruited by [Coffeyville] when I went to a track camp in Oklahoma, where I am originally from,” said Puccino. “I went there and I was recruited as a heptathlete/decathlete.”

In the 2011 season, he competed in the heptathlon and placed fourth at the NJCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships with a score of 4412 points and earned Junior College All-American honors.

Puccino’s best performances at Coffeyville included the high jump, at 6-3 1/2, long jump, at 22-5, triple jump, at 45-3 ¾, and heptathlon, scoring 4530.

“I took fourth and I was an All-American heptathlete,” said Puccino. “I then pulled a hamstring and started to look for other places to go.”

After leaving Coffeyville in 2011, Puccino started to get in contact with Eastern.

“I got in contact with the old coach John Hill,” said Puccino. “They said come out and I would have to earn my way on the team.”

Puccino then earned his place on the team as a walk-on.

Going into the 2012 indoor season, Puccino placed third in the triple jump at the Big Sky Indoor Championship with a personal best of 46-10. He competed in the long jump at the Idaho Vandal Collegiate, placing third with a jump of 21-11 3/4. Puccino also had seasonal bests in the 55-meters, 60-meters and 200-meters.

In the outdoor season, Puccino hit three season bests in the jumps at the Pelluer Invite and won in the the triple jump with a jump of 46-7 1/4, the long jump at 22-10 1/2 and placed second in the high jump with a 6-4 jump. He also ran a seasonal best at the Beach Invitational in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.23.

At the Big Sky Conference Outdoor Championships, Puccino placed fourth in the triple jump and finished 14th in the long jump. He also ran leadoff in the 4×100 relay and placed sixth.

“I got third in conference for the triple jump my first year here, so I didn’t do too bad,” said Puccino. “For outdoor I want to say I got injured in conference. I took fourth and didn’t medal anything.”

During the 2013 indoor season, Puccino would redshirt. According to Rassmussan, Puccino was a little beat up and decided to give him the season to rest.

“In 2012-2013, coach Rassmussan became the new coach and took over coach Hill’s spot,” said Puccino. “And it went all uphill from there, I started performing better, the best I ever had.”

In the outdoor season, Puccino hit personal best in the triple jump at the University of Nevada Las Vegas with a jump of 47-11 1/4 and in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.44.

“I did three jumps and I ran the 100 here and there, but nothing special,” said Puccino.

During this season he also triple qualified, and placed fourth in the high jump for the Big Sky Outdoor Championship with a leap of 6-9, which also recorded as a personal best, and he placed second in the triple jump with a jump of 47-0 3/4.

During the 2014 season, Puccino is the only Eagle to triple qualify in the triple jump, long jump and high jump.

“He is doing very well in the triple jump, long jump and high jump,” said Rassmussen. “Qualifying for all three, he can find his way to the podium for the triple and long jump easily and sneak his way for the high jump.”

Puccino sits in second for the Big Sky right now for both the triple and long jump, and seventh in the high jump.

According to Rassmussen, Puccino has a really good chance at winning the triple jump during the Conference Championships.

Puccino has a mark of 47-0 1/4 in the triple jump , 23-4 in the long jump and 6-8 in the high jump, which are all indoor bests.

“I can take 20 more [Puccino’s] if I can,” said Rassmussen. “He works hard, does what I ask him to do and gets it done when it needs to be done.”