Two members of the Evanston boys track team captured a pair of championships Friday night at the Central Suburban League South division meet at Niles West.
One of them couldn’t be happier --- and the other couldn’t resist seeing the glass as half empty.
First place finishers Oliver Hassard (high jump, triple jump) and Miles Granjean (100 meters, 200 meters) offered different perspectives after leading the Wildkits to a 3rd place finish overall in the team standings. Evanston totaled 119 points and trailed New Trier (136) and Glenbrook South (125) in the final accounting.
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ETHS head coach Don Michelin described it as an “uneven” performance for the Wildkits in their final tuneup before next Thursday’s Illinois High School Association sectional meet at Deerfield.
“This league has just gotten tougher. Right now, New Trier and GBS have shown better depth than we have,” Michelin said. “But I’m happy with our jumpers, our sprinters did well, and so did our distance kids.
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“Oliver Hassard did a heckuva job. I think he has the right focus to get Downstate now. For Miles, it was an uneven performance (also 2nd in the 110 hurdles and 6th in the open 400). We’re all human and, with the type of competitor Miles is, I know he’ll bounce back next week. As a team we weren’t efficient enough today. I think we lost a little bit of our focus.”
Hassard, a junior with a bright future, topped the field in the high jump with a best leap of 1.91 meters, or 6 feet 3 inches, then came back to earn another gold medal with a best effort of 12.58 meters (41 feet, 3-plus inches). He also contributed a leadoff leg for the 1600-meter relay team that placed 2nd in 3 minutes, 29.61 seconds.
Both winning performances were short of the personal records Hassard has turned in so far outdoors. But PRs are for next week --- and maybe the week after that at the IHSA state finals.
The lanky junior relished the head to head competition he had Friday with rivals Ryan Schaefer of Glenbrook South in the high jump and Karol Chmielewski of Niles West in the triple jump.
He beat out Schaefer on the basis of fewer misses in the high jump, and soared past Chmielewski on his final attempt in the triple jump, then watched as Chmielewski fell short on the last jump of the day.
“It feels pretty good to be a conference champion. Today it was all about the competition, not about PRs. I had to come out here and compete, and not worry about PRS, and I did my job,” Hassard said.
“It’s really fun for me when I go up against someone who has done better than my (own) PR, and Ryan always puts up some good competition (in the high jump). My consistency was good and I only had one miss at 6-3. I worked around that miss, brought some speed, and cleared it.
“My last jump won it for me again today. I did the same thing against that Niles West kid a couple of weeks ago at Glenbard West, beating him on the last jump, so I guess I did my job pretty well.”
Granjean was less than satisfied with his two wins, even though his remarkable progress in a sport he didn’t take up until last year ranks him as one of the top all-around sprinters in the state of Illinois now.
He turned in four gold medal performances at the CSL South indoor championships and expected to produce another 40 points for the Wildkits on the biggest outdoor stage so far.
Granjean was upset in the short hurdle race by Niles West junior Chris Rodriguez, who left him in the starting blocks on his way to a winning time of 14.51 to 14.60 for the ETHS senior. Granjean caught his breath, won the open 100 in 11.02, but staggered home 6th in the 400 in 53.11, well off his season best.
He regrouped to rack up a PR in the 200 with a winning effort of 22.23.
“It wasn’t my best start in the hurdles,” Granjean confessed. “I just could bring myself to catch him after that. He ran a helluva race. The coach told me he got a PR by half a second.
“When you have a bad day, you just have to move on from it. I tried to push through in the 400, but my legs were dead. And mentally I wasn’t there. I dug myself a hole and I didn’t pick myself up when I should have.
“When I got to the 200 I told myself I just had to do it (win). I had to keep performing. If you have a bad race, that doesn’t mean the next one has to be bad. I just told myself to smile --- believe you can do it --- and run your race.”
Michelin entered the senior in the 400 instead of the 300 hurdle race in an effort to maximize the team’s point total. And the veteran coach admitted that he isn’t sure just where he’ll use the versatile senior at the sectional.
“He could possibly go in the short hurdles and the 200, and a couple of relays. Or he could go in the hurdles and 3 relays,” Michelin said. “I probably won’t put him in the 300 hurdles, but we’ll see.”
Another highlight for the Wildkits Friday was the 3rd place showing in the 800 by junior Jack Kleinschmit, who cut almost 3 full seconds off his previous best time and was clocked in 1:59.09. He was under the Illinois High School Association state qualifying cut of 1:59.36, although he’ll have to do it again at next week’s sectional to earn a State bid.
Another junior, Glenbrook North’s John Ihrke, won the race in 1:56.98.
“That’s my first time under 2 minutes and it feels great!” Kleinschmit exclaimed. “I’ve been trying for that state cut all of the outdoor season. I felt good today. Over that last 200, 250 meters I knew I had it in me (to go under 2 minutes). I was ready to go!
“Everybody got out fast (58 second split over the first 400). My plan was to be at 57 or 58, because I thought I could hold on after that. I’m excited. Now, the pressure is on me to do it again next week. But now, I know I can do it!”
Also scoring top 5 individual finishes for ETHS were Myles Kye, 2nd in the long jump at 6.21 meters and 4th in the 400 in 51.62; Lee Muir, 3rd in the 300 hurdles in 41.57; Eddie Roman, 4th in the 300 hurdles in 41.58; Enijel Shelton, 4th in the shotput at 12.97 meters; Evan Siegel, 4th in the 110 hurdles in 15.99; Arber Bombaci, 4th in the 3200 in 9:48.54; Sam Froum, 5th in the 3200 in 9:48.82; Jordan Crumpton, 5th in the triple jump at 12.19 meters; William Vilius, 5th in the high jump at 1.70 meters; and Torin Ravi, 5th in the 1600 in 4:32.54.
