Don Michelin has been coaching track and field long enough at Evanston to know that the high jump is the most difficult event in the sport to maintain any consistency.
But Michelin also has reason to believe now that Jaden Jean-Paul is finally back on track.
Jean-Paul scored victories in the high jump (1.98 meters) and long jump (6.61 meters) Wednesday to help the Wildkits take second in the team standings at the Central Suburban League South division meet at Deerfield.
Find out what's happening in Evanstonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The Wildkits also counted individual wins from Dallas Amos in the 400-meter dash, Jordan Harvey in the 300 hurdles, and Enijel Shelton in the shot put while piling up 135 team points. New Trier captured the team title with 156 points.
Jean-Paul burst on the indoor scene in the high jump as a sophomore with a best leap of 6 feet, 8 inches and earning an invitation to the Illinois Prep Top Times meet as a result. But since the competition shifted outdoors, he hasn’t come close to matching that height until turning in solid back-to-back performances at the Thornton Invitational and Wednesday’s conference meet.
Find out what's happening in Evanstonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Now he’s trending in the right direction for any high jumper --- up --- with the sectional meet just one week away.
“For some reason, the whole team was flat in March,” Michelin admitted. “Jaden’s been a different jumper since we got outdoors but now he’s really taking care of business. What we’re trying to tell all of our guys for these big meets is that if you’re seeded because of your previous performances, just do what that seed says and be yourself. If you can exceed that, that’s great, but just be yourself.
In Jean-Paul’s case, that also means a sense of competing in an event in the sport where the concern is usually the bar, not the opponent. But Jean-Paul has shown at a young age that he has the ability to rise to the occasion when a rival jumper applies the pressure by clearing a given height.
“He was down to his last jump at 6-foot-1 after the New Trier kid (Michael Gorelick, the eventual runner-up at 1.93 meters) passed him up,” Michelin recalled. “He just found a way to tough it out and get over that bar. The way he competes, he reminds me of (former ETHS state champion) Matt Cless. He just kept finding a way to make it after that. He reminds me a lot of Cless because when it gets tough, he gets tough with it.
“We’re just hoping that now he can be more consistent with his approach, because if everything’s right on the ground, you have a better chance to be good on top of the jump.”
Jean-Paul and classmate Justin Johnson (6.55 meters) placed 1-2 in the long jump and Jean-Paul added a sixth in the triple jump at 12.84 meters.
“At the indoor CSL meet, we didn’t get anything out of our jumpers at all,” Michelin noted. “The highlight for us today was that we got big points in the high jump and long jump, and some more points out of the triple jump.”
Amos, who lost to teammate Deshawn Priester at the Thornton Invitational, reclaimed the top spot in the open 400 as he ran a 49.55 to Priester’s 50.54. The pair also combined to spark the Wildkits to their only relay title, in the 1600, where they combined with Amani Christian and Milo Porter for a win in 3 minutes, 23.63 seconds.
That was almost five seconds quicker than runnerup New Trier but Michelin knows his squad can be quicker than that.
“I thought we ran a little conservative,” the coach said. “We can extend the lead out a little better than we did. We need more from Deshawn (50.9 split) in that leadoff spot.”
In the shot, Shelton dominated with a best throw of 17.60 meters, approximately 57 feet, 8.75 inches. Deerfield’s Ryan Cunningham had the next best toss at just 15.48.
Harvey turned in a winning effort of 39.64 in the 300 hurdles that was easily under the Illinois High School Association state cut. But the junior speedster hasn’t been at full strength for the entire outdoor season due to a hip problem and is only able to train a couple of days a week while dealing with the injury.
“We’ve been very fortunate that Jordan has been able to race as well as he has,” Michelin said. “He’s been really mature about the situation and he knows he has to keep training (without overstressing) to keep up his cardio and his confidence. Whatever it is, it happened during indoors and it got progressively worse.”
Johnson contributed a second place finish in the 100 (10.79) and a third in the 200 (21.82) for the Wildkits Wednesday. Also placing in the top three as individuals were Sam Froum, 9:31.32 for second in the 3200; Ryan Rice, second in the 110 hurdles in 15.36; and Abdul Hassan Ouedra, second in the discus at 42.82 meters.
