By Mike Clark
At the end of a long and productive day at Steinmetz last Saturday, Sidney Morris somehow found another gear.
The Kenwood senior already had helped the Broncos win the 400 relay in a meet-record 42.12, had taken first in the 100 (11.16) and had run second in the 400 (49.73), just behind Payton’s Evan Rainville (49.51).
Now he was running his final event of the day, the 200.
“That 400 was a great race, right?” Morris said. “Evan took it this time and I jumped right into the 200. Man, my legs had some weight to them. Came around and once I sling-shot off the curve, I was (like), ‘Oh, I have more energy, let’s go, let’s go.'”
Morris won in 22.05, just .02 in front of Lincoln Park’s Christopher Bergin.
And as Morris went, so went the Broncos, who ran away with the program’s first Public League title, 174-99 over Lane. Young (77), Payton (40) and Taft (40) rounded out the top five teams.
Though the Broncos have their eyes on even bigger goals in the IHSA state series, coach Mike Runnels saw this as an important step for the program — especially after coming up short in 2022.
“We didn’t hold back,” Runnels said. “And I knew that looking at last year, how I think we probably had a shot (to win) if we did it differently — I didn’t want to take that risk this year. I wanted to make sure we secured the victory.”
Kenwood did that by dominating across the board.
The Broncos won four of the five relays — only Payton’s 3,200, anchored by Rainville to a time of 8:06.03, broke that streak.
Kenwood was just .02 off Mather’s year-old meet record in the sprint medley, as the team of Elijah Easley, Parrish Hartley, Dion Trotter and Malachi Moreno ran 1:38.06. Morris, Armond Boulware, Kendall Norris and Jahad Henderson broke North Lawndale’s nine-year-old meet record in the 400 relay, while Hartley, Henderson, Logic West and Boulware won the 800 relay in 1:30.14. In the 1,600 relay, it was Boulware, West, Moreno and Norris taking first in 3:28.17.
Easley won the 110 hurdles in 15.29 and Moreno took the 300s in 40.40 after two frontrunners tripped over the last hurdle and fell.
“We were just waiting for him to break through all year,” Runnels said of Moreno in the hurdles. “He hadn’t run faster than 42. But I freed him up — I didn’t put him in the (800 relay) so he could run a good 300 hurdle race, and he did.”
Kenwood also piled up points in the field events.
Julius Washington was an easy winner in the high jump, clearing 6-5.5, and Jeffrey Newing swept the throws with efforts of 48-6.25 in the shot put and 145-8 in the discus.
It all added up to a milestone for the Broncos.
“I’m a history buff and I look at the records. … I noticed that Kenwood has never won an outdoor city championship,” Runnels said. “And so it was a goal of mine to win that. But part of how we do that is we set our sights on the state meet and then we work backwards.
“You set goals, because you have preliminary marks, things that you have to accomplish along the way.”
Athletes from other schools also hit some markers. Taft’s Mikey Polizzi, who was beaten out by Kenwood’s Landan Gillespie in the 800 at the indoor city meet, flipped the script and won in 1:55.17.
It was a deep field, with the top five finishers all under 2:00.
“I was feeling it at the quarter, having kids come up on me right there helped me to kind of just push that last lap,” Polizzi said.
Now he is looking ahead to sectional and beyond.
“State, I’ve had my eyes on top three since last year,” he said. “We’re in it to win.”
Rainville vs. Morris in the 400 is another familiar matchup.
“It’s more of a friendly rivalry than anything,” Rainville said. “It’s always fun racing when we go up against each other. … Sidney, he gets out fast. It helps me get out faster too.”
The only other individual to win multiple events was Young freshman Max Warner, who swept the horizontal jumps. He went 21-2 in the long jump and 42-4 in the triple jump.
Young also got a first in the 1,600 from Dalton Lowery (4:24.56), while Mather’s Mohamed Abdullahi took the 3,200 (9:36.51).
