Wildkits Race Past H-F For Invitational Title

South suburban power Homewood-Flossmoor won the Illinois High School Association Class 3A state track championship in 2023, scored a second place finish last year, and is on top of the short list of contenders this spring, too.

But maybe Evanston should be in that conversation now.

Subscribe

The Wildkits toppled the Vikings by a 20-point margin at Saturday’s Minooka SmithStrong Invitational meet, dealing with excessively windy and chilly conditions better than H-F and winning both the 400-meter and 800-meter relay races.

ETHS junior Jaden Jean-Paul tied the meet record with a winning high jump of 6 feet, 8 inches, Manny Blake tied for first in the 200-meter dash, and the Wildkits won the team title for the first time. Coach Don Michelin’s squad ruled the 16-team field with 109 points to 87 for the Vikings.

It was definitely a good day for the Kits. But leave it to the veteran Michelin to pump the brakes a bit on the expectation that ETHS might be in the hunt for a trophy at next month’s state finals.

“I don’t read much into because we won today,” Michelin said. “The better teams are the teams who show (rise to the occasion) in May. We just want to be one of those teams. We’re still working to be one of the better teams.

“I remember back to the first time we came here (six years ago) we only scored about 20 points, so we’ve just gotten better and better since then.”

Evanston’s depth delivered on a day where the wind gusts reached 30-miles-per-hour and every competitor’s time/distance took a hit as a result of the conditions. The Wildkits counted top 6 individual finishes from Jean-Paul (3^rd in the triple jump at 13.25 meters), Blake (4th in the 100 in 10.80), Jordan Harvey (2^nd in the 300 hurdles at 41.34 seconds, 2^nd in the 100 hurdles at 15.01), Justin Johnson (4^th in the 200 in 23.10 and 5^th in the 100 in 10.82), Anthony Honore (4^th in the 400 in 51.45), Andrew Rich (5^th in the 1600 in a personal best 4:36.28), Lucas Anderson (4^th in the triple jump at 13.16, 5^th in the 110 hurdles in 15.60 and 6^th in the high jump at 1.83 meters).

In the relays, the 400 team of Emmanuel Roache, Blake, Honore and Johnson won the head-to-head duel with H-F in a scintillating finish that featured outstanding anchor legs from Johnson, H-F’s Zion Morrison and Blake Larson of third place Minooka.

Johnson’s sprint to the finish gave the Kits the edge by a margin of 42.46 to 42.55, with Minooka close behind in 42.81. Evanston’s effort is already under the established IHSA state qualifying standard of 42.62.

The Vikings, seeded No. 1 in the 800 relay, scratched out of that event midway through the meet and left the door open for the ETHS foursome of Roache, Blake, Reginald Bell and Johnson to snatch the win in 1:29.90. Evanston added a 6^th in the 1600 relay despite the absence of top quarter-miler Deshawn Preister, who was bothered by a bad hamstring.

Jean-Paul, Evanston’s talented junior jumper, cleared 6-8 for the first time outdoors after achieving that same height last year during the indoor campaign. His head-to-head battle with a certain jumper from Oak Park-River Forest added fuel to the competitive fire for Jean-Paul, who was exposed to trash talking by the same foe for the first time last spring in a sport that is generally among the most genteel at the high school level.

Only in high school golf, where a code of good sportsmanship is prevalent, is trash talking so rare.

Jean-Paul let his performance do all of the talking Saturday.

“It was at this very meet that it happened,” recalled the ETHS standout. “I had gone 6-8 indoors, but he told me I wasn’t good and that he wasn’t worried about beating me. Then, when I missed, he said if you’re so good, how can you go out like that?

“I didn’t say anything back to him then. I always try to have good sportsmanship. But today I wanted to make a statement and show him what I could do. Track isn’t a sport where you see a lot of trash talking, and if someone tries to do it to me, I won’t bother talking back. I’ll just show him.”

Jean-Paul did try a strategy to cause doubts for that competitor Saturday, not attempting a jump until the bar was at 6-2 after the OPRF jumper started at 6-1. “I took a risk and tried to get into his head a little,” he smiled.

“I didn’t get to 6-8 outdoors last year --- and now, here I am. It definitely feels good. Coach Michelin always talks about (believing) ‘I am the best’ and I’ve grown mentally a lot. I have way more of a belief in myself now. I just have to go out and perform.”

In the open 200, Blake also turned in a winning performance. He was clocked in 22.20, the same as Oswego junior Dontrell Young.