Kits Track Down 2nd Place Finsh At Grange Invite

Without much of a relay presence --- at least compared to past years competing at the Red Grange Invitational hosted by Wheaton Warrenville South --- Evanston’s boys track team still scored a second place finish in the team standings Friday night at one of the state’s most prestigious outdoor invitational meets.

In a flighted format consisting of separate divisions (A, B, C) for each school’s top three competitors in each event, depth is rewarded and the Wildkits piled up 191 points and trailed only Homewood-Flossmoor (239) in the 18-team field.

The Kits counted just a pair of individual champions --- Enijel Shelton at 16.19 meters in the Class A shot put, and Nelson Heck at 1.85 meter in the Class B high jump --- but totaled 23 top four finishes overall as head coach Don Michelin’s strategy to allow his top individuals to focus on individual events instead of relays paid off.

But Michelin’s biggest task in the remaining three weeks before postseason competition begins may be to figure out the best path for the Wildkits to close in on the Illinois High School Association state qualifying relay standards in the 4 x 100, 4 x 200 and 4 x 400 events.

The veteran mentor knows that time is running short when it comes to determining the lineups he thinks he can count on. One major change he’s weighing is moving star sophomore sprinter Justin Johnson to the leadoff slots in both the 400 and 800. And he might opt to add Johnson to the 1600 relay --- instead of letting him compete in the open 200, where he thrived indoors as one of the top dashmen in the state of Illinois.

On Friday, Evanston’s best relay finish was a sixth place showing in the 800 relay, a race that served as part of a varsity audition for freshmen hopefuls Nigel Frazier and Anthony Honore. Michelin said after the meet that those two rookies will definitely be in the mix in the chase for relay spots.

“The two freshmen both ran very good splits today (22.64 in the 800 and 53.08 in the 1600 for Honore, 23.17 as the leadoff runner in the 800 for Frazier),” Michelin said. “They’ve been practicing with the varsity all year and they’re both doing very well.

“My expectation is that all three relays will get to State. I just don’t have them in the right order yet. There are so many who are so close in their assessments, so I have to keep giving them all opportunities the next couple of weeks. Each meet will help tell me what to do.

“I believe in in-house competition, where you as hard as you can in practice, and then when the dust settles, that’s what you’ve got.”

Johnson’s status regarding the 1600 relay is just part of the puzzle in that race. Junior Deshawn Priester ran a 2:02 in the 800 in a meet last Tuesday at New Trier and he’ll compete at that distance, not his usual open 400, at next Saturday’s Glenbard West Invitational.

Michelin seems all but certain that he’ll choose to have Johnson lead off both the 400 and 800 short races, embracing the philosophy of challenging for the lead first with his best runner and forcing other teams into a catch-up mode.

“We have a lot of options in the 4 x 100, and I think we’ll go with Johnson to Dallas Amos, then figure out the other two legs,” Michelin said. “We haven’t put together the right lineup yet in the 4 x 200, but I think the key for me will be Justin in that leadoff spot. I definitely think we have the pieces to make it work.”

At Wheaton, Amos didn’t anchor the 1600 relay like he usually does, but contributed runnerup finishes in the A 400 (49.15 seconds), B 200 (23.08) and B long jump (6.52 meters). Joining him with second place finishes were Sam Froum (9:42.66 in the A 3200), Emir Arber Bombaci (9:56.18 in the B 3200), Jordan Harvey (40.79 in the A 300 hurdles), Johnson (6.41 meters in the C long jump), Jaden Jean-Paul (12.53 meters in the B triple jump) and sophomore Nelson Mbangamoh (41.98 in the C 300 hurdles).

Ryan Rice ran third in the B 300 hurdles, in 42.75, and Tyler Ng earned a third place finish in the C 800 in 2:06.16.