Johnson, Hassard Claim CSL South Indoor Titles

There weren’t a lot of feel-good performances from the Evanston boys track team in the first half of the Central Suburban League South division indoor championship invitational meet, held Friday for possibly the last time at the historic Willie May Fieldhouse.

But the Wildkits felt good at the end even though they settled for an uncharacteristically low third place finish in the team standings.

Individual victories from freshman Justin Johnson in the 200-meter dash and Oliver Hassard in the high jump, plus relay triumphs in the 800 and 1600, left the Wildkits with the feeling that the glass was half full --- not half empty.

At least head coach Don Michelin felt that way even though his squad scored 98 points to trail both Glenbrook South (142 points) and New Trier (127) in the team standings. Rounding out the field were Deerfield at 61, Glenbrook North at 36 and Maine South at 29.

“When I saw all those firsts (in the second half of the meet) I felt a lot better,” said Michelin. “Our kids showed me such grit in winning those two relays. Yes, we like to finish first (in the team standings), but the way they ran with such grit --- Justin in the 200, Oliver in the high jump, Henry O’Malley in the mile, Jack Kleinschmit in the 800 --- shows me just how much this means to them, to put it all on the line like they did tonight. They all showed such grit.

“I’ve been first and felt bad. After finishing third tonight, I’m feeling good.”

Johnson’s upset victory in the 200 would have been enough all by itself to excite the veteran coach. He’s the first ETHS freshman runner since Reggie Murphy back in 2012, when he won the 50-yard dash, to claim an indoor CSL South title.

The first-year runner kicked into overdrive to beat the race favorite, New Trier’s William Landwer, by a margin of 23.62 seconds to 23.78.

Johnson entered the competition with just the third fastest seed time but the powerfully built freshman, who also played wide receiver and defensive back for the freshman football team, wasn’t going to be denied coming around the last curve.

Earlier, he teamed up with Sebastian Carmichael, Jordan Harvey and Camarius Morgan to rule the 800 relay race in 1:34.85, more than a second quicker than runnerup Glenbrook South.

“This is all new to me,” Johnson confessed, “but it’s a great feeling to win the championship. I could see that there were times faster than mine coming into the race, but once I started coming off the curve, I knew I had him.

“I think the 200 will be my best race, because I need more space to reach my top speed. I ran the 200 when I was in 7th and 8th grade (at Chute Middle School), but I’ve never been this good. It’s the coaching. They push me every day in practice to make me run faster than I want to. I’m not used to how hard it is in practice --- and also in middle school I didn’t really lose any races, so I’m not used to getting beat. But that will only make me better.”

Michelin doesn’t plan to get used to watching Johnson get beat, however.

“I think this boy is going to be special,” declared the veteran coach. “He has a lot of grit. In the 200, he didn’t get into the guy (the New Trier runner) the way he was supposed to, but he did it later and still found a way to win. District 65 does a really good job of preparing kids, because Justin didn’t come in here not knowing what to do.

“He comes to work hard every day and he stays humble. I figured him for maybe a solid second in that race because he was up against a really good athlete, but he showed something tonight.”

So did Hassard. The senior standout, plagued by illness and sore knees for much of the indoor campaign, shook his fist and broke into a big smile after clearing 1.90 meters (almost 6 feet, 3 inches) to take top honors in the high jump. That effort matched his career best indoors.

Hassard was also part of the victorious 1600 relay meter unit that included Jordan Harvey, Jayden Gumbs and Dallas Amos.

“I started out strong this year and had that PR (personal record) in my first meet. Then I started having knee problems, and I got really sick,” Hassard explained. “So winning felt nice, but it felt really good to get back to my PR again.

“I changed my technique a little after I realized a couple of weeks ago (at a competition held at the new Gately Stadium indoor facility in Chicago) that I was way too close to the bar on my approach. So I moved my steps back and it’s something I’m still getting used to. But I feel really good mentally and physically now and everything just came together tonight.”

Evanston led that final relay race until it was Amos’ turn on the anchor leg. The junior surrendered the lead to not one --- not two --- but three other rival runners, then miraculously pulled off the win in the final five meters that helped the Wildkits prevail in 3:40.97. New Trier, GBN and Maine South were all within a half second of the winners.

Amos wasn’t the only one who showed his determination for the hosts. Kleinschmit couldn’t keep up with the race winner, GBN state finalist John Ihrke (2:00.98), but his strong surge over the last 150 meters produced a runnerup time of 2:01.58 and prevented the Trevians from scoring a 1-2 finish.

In the 1600, O’Malley ran a solid third in 4:40.81, a personal best.

The Kits also counted a second from Enijel Shelton in the shot put (15.30 meters) and thirds from Carmichael in the long jump (6.32 meters) and Morgan in the 200 (23.96).

A leak in the ancient ETHS fieldhouse roof forced meet officials to shift the pole vault competition to Glenbrook South Friday. Michelin acknowledged that it might be best for the athletes to move the championship meet to New Trier’s brand-new facility in the future, even though Evanston has hosted the meet for the past 50 years, ever since the Central Suburban League was created.

“I know we’ve hosted this ever since the league came into existence, and I’ve been here since 1981,” he said. “But I think it’s time to move it. New Trier has that new facility, and that’s where it should be. That would be best for everyone.”