Last one, best one.
That has been Marquis Dendy's motto all year.
It’s the only way he would have wanted his career at the University of Florida to end.
And it did.
Leading up to Friday’s NCAA Outdoor triple jump championship in Eugene, Oregon, the senior jumper from Middletown, Delaware, had won all of the national and conference long jump titles in 2015. Dendy needed the win in his final collegiate event to complete the triple jump sweep for the year.
He wasted no time.
On his first jump, he flew 17.50 meters, putting himself on top of UF’s all-time list in the event.
But he wasn’t done.
His second jump was even better.
On his last jump — of the event, meet, season and historic Florida career — Dendy soared 17.71 meters (58.25 feet) to the triple jump title.
With the jump, he set the third-best all-conditions mark in collegiate history, as well as a new record for an NCAA meet.
"Going in, my thought process was that this was my last jump as a collegiate athlete and I definitely wanted to hit the 58-foot mark, so I went after it and it felt so good when I landed," Dendy said in a release. "I kind of knew it was big, but I wasn’t sure right away."
A lot had happened between his final jump at UF and the start of his career.
In 2012, coming into Gainesville as DyeStat’s No. 1 high school triple and long jumper in the country, Dendy was not hesitant to introduce himself to the collegiate world.
He ended his first conference meet as the Southeastern Conference’s indoor long jump champion.
He won his first national title at the 2013 Indoor Championships, sporting a then-career best 8.28 meters.
Following his recovery from a torn labrum that deterred him from winning any conference or national titles during the 2014 indoor season, Dendy restarted his reign of domination.
Aside from the 2014 SEC outdoor long jump event, he went on to win every conference and national event he competed in, winning six national titles and five SEC titles in that span.
Now, he’s one of the most decorated long and triple jumpers in program history.
"I think Marquis Dendy is arguably the best combination jumper to come out of the University of Florida," coach Mike Holloway said in a release.
Fifty-eight feet was Dendy’s goal all season.
A goal he completed with the one of the best jumps of his career — his last one, and his best one.
Follow Kyle Brutman on Twitter @KBrut13.
Florida's Marquis Dendy leaps on his way to winning the triple jump during the NCAA track and field championships in Eugene, Ore., Friday, June 12, 2015.
Florida jumper Marquis Dendy saved his best season for his last one, sweeping the long and triple jumps at both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships en route to becoming Florida's first winner of The Bowerman, the track and field equivalent of The Heisman Trophy. Here's Kyle Brutman's feature on Dendy (http://www.alligator.org/sports/track/article_4c53418a-13e5-11e5-b636-f77a62ccc996.html)
