Handke breaks ACCHS triple jump record set in 1982

Ben Handke’s 43-foot-4.75 triple jump at Riverside did more than break a school record. It gave Atchison County Community High School track a new measuring stick, one that now sits on Athletic.net and the ACCHS event-record page as the mark every future Tiger will have to reach.

The old record had stood since 1982, a stretch of 44 years that made Handke’s leap stand out even more. In a Class 2A program that competes in the Northeast Kansas League and represents Effingham, the breakthrough showed that ACCHS is not just producing one standout performance. It is building a higher standard for the whole program, one jump at a time.

Handke’s rise has been steady, not sudden. He finished 16th at the Kansas state meet last season with a jump of 39 feet, 1.25 inches on May 30, 2025. This spring’s 43-4.75 effort marked a gain of more than four feet from that state-meet result, a major jump in a technical event that depends on speed, timing, body control and confidence as much as raw power. Athletic.net’s progression for Handke shows that climb clearly, from 32-1.5 in middle school in 2023 to 39-1.25 in 2024 and then 43-4.75 in 2026.

That kind of improvement has lifted the profile of ACCHS track itself. Under coach Brian Malm, who is also listed as ACCHS principal in the Kansas State High School Activities Association school directory, Handke has grown into a more mature presence in the program. Malm’s view is that age and experience have helped Handke settle into leadership roles, which matters at a small school where one athlete’s work ethic can influence the tone of an entire practice group.

Handke’s next target is even more ambitious: 45 feet and a chance to compete at the collegiate level. For ACCHS, that makes the record feel less like a finish line than a sign of what is possible when a hometown athlete keeps chasing the next mark. Younger Tigers now have a new benchmark in front of them, and it belongs to one of their own.