Beacon track athletes excel at nationals
Henry Reinke ran a new Beacon High School indoor record for 400 meters (50.15), eclipsing Alex Shapiro’s mark (50.17) from 2010, and Damani DeLoatch had three of his best four triple jumps ever to place third in the Rising Stars division at the New Balance Nationals Indoor meet on March 10 and 11 in Boston.
“It was quite a way to wrap up the season,” said Coach Jim Henry, “with a school record [Henry] and a medal at Nationals [Damani]. That was the first Beacon medal at Nationals since 2016.
“Henry had some great workouts two to three weeks ago,” Henry added. “I was excited to see how that would translate to the race. Clearly it went as well as we’d hoped and we are looking forward to what he can do outdoors this spring.”
Hard work has also paid off for Deloatch, the coach said. “Damani has been putting in a lot of time identifying flaws and improving the phases of his triple jump. He continues to improve and we’re excited about the latest list of improvements that we intend to work on.”
Both are juniors, and are rapidly becoming sought after by colleges as track-and-field recruits, according to Henry.
“It’s hard to look too far ahead, but this spring I expect Damani to get his triple jump into the 45-46 range and contend for a medal at states,” he said. “For Henry, the 400 school record 48.8 and the 800 record of 1:55 are both in his sight.”
