Jamie Ruginski said it was the best series of jumps he’s ever had.

It just wasn’t quite good enough for a fourth NCAA Division III triple jump title and a fifth title overall.

Ruginski, a University of Southern Maine senior from Buxton, finished second Saturday at the NCAA championships in Canton, New York, because a long-time rival had the meet of his life.

“It was far and away the best performance I’ve ever had at a meet,” Ruginski said. “I had my second-best lifetime jump, twice, and one of my best friends had a lifetime best by something like two and a half feet.

“To be honest, coming into the meet, I would have thought my jump in the prelims would have been enough to win.”

Ruginski was one of several Maine athletes who earned All-America honors Saturday.

Brunswick’s Mitchell Black, a junior at Tufts, followed up his NCAA indoor title at 800 meters by taking the outdoor crown with a time of 1 minute, 52.57 seconds.

Peyton Dostie of Standish, a USM senior, again lowered her school record in the women’s 400-meter hurdles while finishing second in 1:00.13.

At the Division II championships in Allendale, Michigan, Carsyn Koch of Washburn and Maria Curit of Biddeford placed second and fourth in the 800. Koch, a freshman at Cedarville (Ohio) University, finished in 2:05.21, and Curit, a senior at Stonehill, was clocked in 2:06.48.

Ruginski had won three straight NCAA triple jump titles – two indoors, one outdoors – and was coming off a victory in the long jump on Thursday. But he was edged this time by Bridgewater State senior Chris Perry, whose winning leap was 50 feet, 11 inches. Ruginski and Perry first competed against each other as high schoolers at the New England championships, with Perry winning and Ruginski finishing second. One of Ruginski’s two indoor NCAA titles came at Perry’s expense, when Ruginski overtook him on the final jump.

Ruginski went past 50 feet three times, with a best of 50-71/2 on the third of six attempts. His personal best is 51-23/4.

“When you see that sort of consistency you start waiting for the big one to come,” USM Coach Ryan Harkleroad said. “He had one where his first two phases were absolutely huge and he just couldn’t quite hold it on that third stage. Talking to a few of the other coaches, we all thought if he’d been able to put all three together it would have been a 53-foot jump.”

Ruginski said he was gunning for something extra.

“I knew it was going to take something tremendous to win,” he said. “I knew if I just went ahead of Chris by a couple inches then he’d do the same. We’ll go better than we ever have just because we’re pushing each other.”

Ruginski said the realization that his college career had ended was tougher to take than being beaten by Perry.

“That this was my last college meet is a hard thing to accept,” Ruginski said. “The last hour and a half, I’ve just been going around hugging my teammates and the other people I’ve met. You compete with these people and you share a bond. You’re in the national championship and you share that moment, and not a lot of people get to say that.”

And not many get to stay they’re a four-time NCAA champ.

“The triple jump, it was Chris’ time. He got it and he deserved it,” Ruginski said. “I’m happy for him. I got the long jump, which I didn’t expect. So now I’m a multi-event national champion, and that’s what I can take away from this meet.”