A year ago, Malachi Adams was a role player for the Evanston boys track and field team.
He ran on relays and filled in wherever he was needed.
This spring, Adams, a senior, has been a star. He showed that on Thursday, May 21, by winning two individual events and running on two winning relay teams to lead the Wildkits to the team title at the Class 3A Loyola Sectional. Evanston finished with 118 points.
Adams will be running at the Class 3A track and field state meet at Eastern Illinois’ O’Brien Stadium in Charleston for the first time as an individual. The 3A preliminaries are Friday, May 29, with the finals Saturday, May 30.
The top two individuals and relays automatically qualify for the state meet. At-large bids are earned by meeting the state-qualifying standard in each event.
“Heck of a day,” Evanston coach Don Michelin said of Adams’ effort. “Being the best sprinter here says a lot. He took command of his races.”
Adams finished first in the 100 meters in 10.95 seconds and first in the 200 in 21.90. He also ran on the 4×100 and 4×200 relays. The 4×100 team set a program record with its time of 41.94. The old record of 41.99 had stood since 1998.
“What a great job by the team,” Adams said. “I was very happy with how I did, too. I think I could have done better in the 200, but overall I did really well.”
That’s from someone who, as a freshman, nearly didn’t know if track was for him. He said training with and watching senior Reggie Murphy through the years helped him go all in with the sport. Adams even dropped football in the fall to focus on preparing for the track season.
“Reggie has been such a huge gauge for me,” Adams said. “I grew up admiring him. He’s always calm and collected. He never cracks under the pressure.
“We are very good friends, and we’ve pushed each other this year.”
For his part, Murphy finished second in the 100 in 11.07 and ran with Adams on the 4×100 and 4×200 relays.
The 4×100 team of Adams, Murphy, sophomore Brad Garron and senior Carl Klamm tied for the third-best time among the 11 Class 3A sectionals. Evanston’s 4×200 foursome of Adams, Murphy, Garron and senior Marcus Starks posted the fourth-best time (1:27.77).
“Great, great day,” Michelin said. “These guys really have been building to this all year, but we haven’t run our best I don’t think.”
Loyola
Seniors Christian Swenson and Jack Carroll both earned invitations to the state meet in the 1,600.
Swenson grabbed an automatic bid by taking second in 4:18.69, while Carroll’s time of 4:18.89 was under the state standard. Hersey senior David Rodriguez won the sectional title in 4:18.06.
“It was an awesome race,” Loyola coach Dan Seeberg said. “They challenged for the win, and that was great to see. They pushed each other all year long.”
Another Ramblers senior, Michael Banks, will compete at the state meet after running a 1:56.57 in the 800 to eclipse the qualifying time.
“He got tripped up around the second lap, and it was touch-and-go with him,” Seeberg said. “He pulled it together.”
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Paolo Tiongson was the long shot among Loyola’s distance crew, but the sophomore snuck under the state cut by running a career-best 9:28.85 in the 3,200 to advance to the final week of the season. The state standard in the event was 9:29.04
“He ran the race of his life,” Seeberg said. “He gutted it out that last half mile.”
Glenbrook North
Junior Michael Papper was one of two Spartans to qualify for the state meet and was the team’s lone sectional champion.
Papper won the long jump with a mark of 22 feet, 1.5 inches, setting a personal best by more than two inches to advance to his first state meet.
“That definitely was the goal,” said Papper, who bettered his sectional mark from a year ago by almost two feet. “I was even pulled out of the 100 to focus on the long jump. My goal now is to get in the same range as my PR.”
Papper, who didn’t long jump as a freshman, credited his performance to his coaches at Glenbrook North and trainers at TCBOOST in Northbrook.
“The coaches [at Glenbrook North] have helped me with my technique, and I have sprinter’s speed from working at TCBOOST,” he said. “I am faster and have more explosiveness.”
Junior Constantine Beniaris is another first-time qualifier for the state meet after placing second in the high jump (6-1).
New Trier
Ted Oh must love running on Loyola’s track.
The junior once again qualified for the state meet as part of New Trier’s 4×800 relay team after the foursome took second in 7:53.82. Last season, he was on the relay that won the sectional at Loyola with a stadium-record time of 7:43.65.
This spring, Oh, the anchor leg, was joined by junior Jack Litowitz, senior OM Kanwar and senior Josh Rosenkranz.
“We are perennially strong in distance events,” New Trier coach Mark Wukas said. “[Dave] Wisner, our cross country coach, is one of the great unsung distance coaches in the state. He does a great job.”
Senior Austin Santacruz and sophomore Warren Blood both earned trips to O’Brien Stadium in the 3,200 by running qualifying times. Santacruz clocked a 9:28.64, and Blood crossed in 9:28.99.
Glenbrook South
One of the team’s state hopefuls, senior Peter Wassmann, finished fifth in the 110 hurdles (15.85) and seventh in the 300 hurdles (41.10).
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