Kye Soars To Long Jump Title At Phillips Relays

Myles Kye’s career highlight as an athlete at Evanston came when he scored a touchdown against Maine South during the football season last fall.

But he’s still making an impact at ETHS --- in a new sport.

The Wildkit senior won the long jump with a best leap of 6.32 meters --- approximately 20 feet, 8 inches --- and helped Evanston breeze to the team title again at the Dan Phillips Relays indoor track invitational held Friday night at Willie May Fieldhouse.

Kye also competed on two victorious relay teams and placed 3rd in the 55-meter dash as Evanston piled up 112 points and repeated as team champion against a 7-team field. Runnerup Loyola Academy totaled 69 points.

Recruited to join the track ranks by a couple of his football teammates, Boaz Lieberman and Skyler Lee Jr., it didn’t take long for Kye to break into the starting lineup. He has thrived since the ETHS coaching staff pointed him to the long jump, although he’s still got plenty to learn as far as the technique in that specialty.

But head coach Don Michelin recognizes the potential in the speedy senior, who started at wide receiver for the football squad.

“I know his father ran at Niles North, so he had some connections to track,” said Michelin. “When we first gathered as a team we did an assessment and I saw the inner toughness and competitiveness in Myles.

“Sometimes I have to tell him to go home from practice. He always wants to do more. So far he hasn’t just run on our relays --- he’s done a good job of it.”

One ETHS assistant coach described Kye as having Division I (college) potential as a jumper.

“I knew I could do pretty well as a runner even though I’ve been a football player all my life,” said Kye, still clutching the plaque awarded to Evanston as the 2023 team champion at the meet named for the former Evanston alderman and a big supporter of the boys track program. “Boaz told me I should just come out to practice one day and see how I like track. And I do like it. Everyone on the team is so humble and so much fun to be around.

“The first week I came out I think I tried every event. It’s pretty cool to win the long jump like I did tonight. I’m a very competitive person and I’m always trying to find ways to improve myself. I still need to learn a lot as a jumper and as a runner. Being able to make sure I’m on the board (for the long jump) is something I’m still working on (2 of his 4 jumps Friday were from in front of the board), and I need to soar and keep my feet out there for a better landing. And I still need to fix my running motion and get stronger, too.”

Kye was clocked in 6.93 seconds in the open 55, and teamed up with Miles Granjean, Oliver Hassard and Lee to win the 800-meter relay in 1:35.88, almost 6 seconds faster than runneup Loyola. He also ran with Hassard, Granjean and freshman Jordan Harvey on the 1600 relay squad that capped the team title with a winning time of 3:40.16 in the final event of the night.

Granjean, who joined the track program last year just before the start of the outdoor season for the first time as a junior, scored individual wins Friday in both the 55 high hurdles (7.71) and 60 low hurdles (7.49). Evanston’s other individual win came in the high jump, where Hassard posted a winning effort of 1.85 meters, or about 6-foot-1.

The freshman-sophomore 800 relay team of Harvey, Warren Liddell, Sebastian Carmichael and Samson Gabriele ruled the only race for underclassmen for ETHS in 1:39.83.

Contributing 2nd place finishes for the Wildkits were Evan Siegel in the high hurdles at 8.26; Henry O’Malley in the 1600 in 4:53.70; the 3200 relay team of Jack Kleinschmit, Declan Ahern, Arber Bombaci and Luke Ng in 8:38.97; Hassard in the triple jump at 12.10 meters; and Enijel Shelton in the shot put at 13.45 meters, or 44 feet.