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 finished fifth 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.”

Just because he broke the school record, though, that doesn’t necessarily mean Malkush won’t try to continue to push himself. His goal is to run the 400 under 50 seconds.

“I do want to keep improving my time by the time I graduate,” he said. 

McGinn has been impressed with Malkush’s work ethic.

“Just his energy and attitude at practice,” he said. “He’s always ready to go. He’s the first one there, he’s the last one out, always looking for extra. He’s just a model for the underclassmen on the team. He’s somebody where kids gravitate towards with his energy at practice.”

Malkush knew that his record was far from a one-man show.

“My coaches definitely helped me a lot,” he said. “They gave me the training and workouts I needed to do, as well as the encouragement to keep pushing.”

The 400 isn’t the only event in which Malkush competes. He also does the long jump — his best leap is 18 feet — and is part of the Tuckers’ 4×400 relay team.

It works out well because the long jump is usually at the start of meets, the 400 meters in the middle, and the relay is toward the end.

“He’s not just a mid-distance runner. He can do whatever we need him to do,” McGinn said. “That’s the best part about him. He just does it to the best of his ability.”

Malkush discovered how much he loved running in an eighth-grade gym class.

“I just started running with everyone else, and I just kind of fell into a rhythm,” he said. “It was like, wow, I’m kind of good at this. I joined the track team and never looked back.”

Malkush and his Mattituck teammates have at least two more meets this school year. The Suffolk County small school championships are set for Mount Sinai High School on Friday, May 29, and the state qualifiers are set for Comsewogue High School on June 4-5.

“Oh, I would love to qualify for the state championships,” he said. “That’s a huge goal of mine, to be able to make it to that event. But there is some very good competition.”

The post Mattituck track Malkush star breaks school record in 400 meters appeared first on The Suffolk Times.

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