David Phillips has outstanding leaping ability. He is best known for using it to get off jump shots over taller opponents on a basketball court.

A 6-foot-4 senior at Beaver Falls High School, Phillips averaged 13 points per game and helped the Tigers win the Section 6-AA title and advance to the WPIAL Class AA final against Jeannette this past season.

A two-year starter, he is looking to continue his basketball career in college. Before that happens, however, Phillips will conclude his high school track career.

He competed in three events -- the long, triple and high jumps -- at the WPIAL Class AA track championships Tuesday at South Side Beaver, winning medals in two of them. He won the triple jump with a leap of 44 feet, 5 inches and qualified for the PIAA championships May 23-24 at Shippensburg University. He also tied for sixth in the high jump.

Phillips failed to qualify for the PIAA championships last year, but did earn a trip East as a sophomore. That year he was fourth in the triple jump at the WPIAL meet.

"Last year I didn't do too well because I had AAU basketball," he said. "I've been doing track for three years, but this is basically my second year."

Because he is a senior and will graduate, Phillips isn't playing AAU basketball this spring. That has allowed him to devote more time to track.

It has shown in what he has done. Phillips was second in the triple jump by an inch and a quarter at the Midwestern Athletic Conference championships at Mars last month. He won the long and triple jumps at the Beaver County championships at Riverside and was second in the high jump, and he won the triple jump and was sixth in the long jump at the Trojan Track Classic at Center High School.

He came up with his winning effort at the championships on his first jump. The farthest he had gone before that in the triple jump was 44- ¹/₂.

"It wasn't that I didn't try after that [44-5], but I put it out there and it was up to somebody else to try and better it," Phillips said. "I'm excited about going back to states and maybe it's good that I'm going in just one event. I can focus on it and, hopefully, do something there."

Beaver Falls coach John Kelly bugged Phillips into going out for track when Phillips was a sophomore.

"We chased him for a while to get him to come out," Kelly said. "He's done well this year and is an outstanding athlete. Besides the jumps, we've used him in the 800 and on the 3,200- and 1,600-meter relay teams. Really, there were a lot of places we could have plugged him in."

The triple jump is Phillips' best event. He has consistently hit the 44-foot mark in it this year.

"It's the event I've had the most success in, so it is the one I like the best," Phillips said.

He had gone 21 feet in the long jump, but hasn't done as well in the high jump despite his leaping ability. The high jump has frustrated him.

"My coach says I'm over 6-4 by this much," he said, holding his hands about four inches apart, "but I always hit the bar with my heels or my rear end or with something. It's just so frustrating."

Phillips said he has enjoyed the track and field experience.

"Track has been more of a hobby for me, basically, like golf," he said. "I love track. I like the coaches and the whole atmosphere, but ..."

But basketball is the sport in which he will probably compete as a college student. Geneva College would love to have Phillips on its roster next season. American University, a Division I school, has shown some interest.

He could end up staying home and going to Geneva, which has moved into the NCAA Division III Presidents' Athletic Conference, because it has a program in conjunction with the Community College of Beaver County for air traffic control.

"They have a one-two-one program," said Phillips, referring to the fact a student attends classses his or her first year at Geneva, then two years at CCBC before returning to Geneva for the final year. "It's a great opportunity to get into the field I want.

"I want to go as far I can in basketball. You always want to play at the highest level you can, but I'm also looking at getting into a good job after basketball.

"American University has talked to my coach [Doug Biega] a lot. They wanted me to get my SAT and ACT scores up, and I took them again recently ... We'll see what happens."

Phillips, who played guard for Beaver Falls in basketball and can hit from outside the 3-point line, is talented enough to play at the Division I level. But he is more concerned with getting a good education and setting himself up for life after basketball.

"I'm more interested in finding a good job," he said. "I don't want to come home and just sit around [after college]."