Jacob Malkush might have finished 17th in the 400-meter race at the East End Classic in East Hampton on May 16, but he still walked away with a major accomplishment.
The Mattituck High School junior broke the school record for the event, finishing in 53.56 seconds and surpassing the mark set by Jack Dufton (54.05) in 2016.
“He’s been hacking away at it almost every week,” Mattituck boys track coach Jordan McGinn said. “He was PRing [personal record], so I knew it was a matter of time until he did it. He’s the hardest worker on the team, so I knew eventually he was going to be pushing that record.”
Malkush finishedfifth in the third heat of the 400, which was won by Southold’s Alfonso Garcia (53.35). He finished just .21 seconds of a second.
“It was right after I finished the race. The officials were giving us our times. At first, I thought I misheard it,” he said. “I was kind of like awestruck at first. Did I actually get the record? Then I looked at my coach, and he gave me a little nod.
Malkush added that he was a “little tired, but there’s a lot of excitement in the air, a lot of energy. It felt really good to do it, like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I don’t have to worry about getting the record anymore.”
McGinn, who witnessed Malkush’s determination, was thrilled for the 6-foot-1, 144-pound student-athlete.
“This whole year he’s been saying he wants to get this record,” he said. “He put a target on it and did everything he could to get it. Once he saw his time, he was just smiling ear to ear. He was super proud of himself, as he should have been.”
Malkush had been cutting seconds off his 400 performances.
“It was a slow process, half a second here, half a second there,” he said. “I slowly chipped away at my time.”
Source: The Suffolk Times
