Duke track and field recruit Curtis Beach continued his dominance in the decathlon Friday, posting his third national record in three months.
He took first place at the U.S. Junior Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon, setting a meet record with his 7,599 points in the two-day, 10-event competition. Beach’s time of 4 minutes, 7.85 seconds in the 1500-meter run was a new personal best and a junior world record for the 1500 contested in a decathlon.
As a result of his top finish, the New Mexico native qualified for the Pan American Junior Athletics Championships to be held July 31 through August 2 in Trinidad and Tobago. Even though Beach finished 485 points ahead of second place, his score fell far short of his American high school decathlon record.
At the Arcadia Invitational in April, Beach shattered the previous record of 7,417 points set in 1993, winning nine out of the 10 events—and setting six personal bests—en route to a final score of 7,909.
The incoming freshman began his track career as a cross country runner, and his comfort with the middle distances was on display at Arcadia. He blew the competition away in the 1500, winning the race by an astounding margin of more than 39 seconds.
But even after this impressive showing, Beach still had one more task remaining to quell any doubts about his mastery of the event. He decided to compete in the decathlon at the Great Southwest Classic in early June with both high school and international implements (the latter are used in the Olympics).
Consequently, he moved up from 12 to 16 pounds in the shot put, from three pounds, nine ounces to four pounds, 6.55 ounces in the discus and from 39 to 42 inches in 110-meter hurdles.
Beach was more than up to the challenge, as he snapped the 37-year old record for high-schoolers using international implements with a score of 7,466 that topped the previous mark by 107 points.
Add the three national decathlon records to the 17 individual state titles he amassed during his high school career, and it’s obvious that Beach is ready to compete at the collegiate level. Over 40 colleges recruited Beach, and he visited five—including traditional track powerhouse Oregon—before choosing Duke.
"A lot of people see Duke as this intramural club,” Beach told MaxPreps.com. “This year they were in the middle of the ACC. They have the facilities and the athletic support is there. They have outstanding coaches and it boggles my mind how they got them. They have everything in place to have a successful program.”
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