Evanston junior Enyaeva Michelin said she spent some time at the team hotel on Friday thinking about the advice track and field legend Jackie Joyner-Kersee passed along to a room of approximately 200 athletes earlier in the day.
“One thing she said really stuck with me — that everyone has a reason they are running,” said Michelin, who was present to hear the three-time Olympic gold-medal winner Joyner-Kersee speak in East St. Louis on the eve of the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational.
Michelin continued: “For her, (the reason) was to get out (of humble circumstances in East St. Louis), and she told us all to find our purpose.”
Michelin did just that.
“I did give it some thought,” said Michelin, an Evanston resident. “Now that I’m a junior, my purpose is to potentially run in college, or get a scholarship. I’m hoping to make opportunities through running.”
Michelin ran with a purpose on Saturday at East St. Louis High School, winning the 3,200-meter run in 11 minutes, 22.72 seconds despite competing in the event for the first time in her career.
While Michelin sought to put the accomplishment into perspective by noting the meet, featuring some of the Midwest’s top girls track programs, was less competitive in the distance events than sprints.
But Michelin, who can run middle- and long-distance races, showed why Evanston coaches see her as one of the up-and-coming stars in the program.
“Her job is to keep doing what she’s doing,” Evanston girls track and field coach Fenton Gunter said. “She’s fortunate she has two seniors (Tauja Foreman and Hailey Taylor) in front of her, who both ran at the state meet last year. (Michelin) doesn’t have to carry the whole squad. That’s the seniors’ job. But she has to be ready when the seniors are gone, because then it’s her squad.”
Michelin, Foreman and Taylor were Evanston’s only varsity runners at the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational, yet the Wildkits still managed to finish ninth (33 points) in a meet that was won by East St. Louis (127).
At the meet, Foreman finished second in the 300 hurdles (46.81) and third in the 100 hurdles (14.76) and Taylor came in third in the long jump (16 feet, 2 inches) and sixth in the 100 (12.59)
In addition to running the 3,200, Michelin had been planning to compete in the 800. However, a late change to the meet schedule put the two races too close together and she decided to just focus on the 3,200.
Evanston coaches love Michelin’s versatility, which Gunter said gives Michelin an ability to run everything from the 400 up through the 3,200.
Michelin improved as a distance runner during the cross country season in the fall, finishing 14th at the sectional (18:37.10) and qualifying for her first Class 3A state meet. Michelin said shin injuries in both legs led to a somewhat disappointing 117th-place finish (18:30) at state.
“She’s finding out for herself that she’s more than just a half-miler (800). She can run the mile and can move up to the two (mile)” Evanston assistant and distance coach Jesse Sibert said. “Cross county helped and we did some summer running and summer meets (in 2016) and that helped her get stronger.”
Sibert said it’s way too early to decide which events Michelin might focus on during the postseason. He said Michelin’s improvement and the competition she might face in each event at the sectional will be factored into that decision.
Gunter said being a “student of the sport” and making “good decisions during races,” will be among the keys to Michelin’s ongoing development.
Michelin certainly has plenty of resources at her disposal to help with race planning and execution.
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Her grandfather Don has been the Evanston boys track coach since 2007 and has been a coach in the program for a total of 34 years. He completed his 37th season as Wildkits boys cross country coach in the fall. Her father Donald, meanwhile, coaches the distances runners on the boys track team.
“(In our family) we talk about track and discuss how we can improve on races,” said Enyaeva Michelin, whose brother Sacrad, a freshman, and cousin Julion, a sophomore, are on the boys track team. “But (my father and grandfather) encourage me to listen to my coaches. It could get confusing if you have too many coaches, so they tell me strongly to listen to and follow my coaches.”
Dan Shalin is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Twitter @Pioneer_Press