Payton dominates distance events, CPL teams rack up multiple top 10 finishes at boys track and field state finals

By Mike Clark

With every passing season, it’s become more apparent that Payton has cracked the code for middle- and long-distance running,

The Grizzlies’ pack of 800- and 1,600-meter runners won three Class 2A titles and four total medals during the IHSA finals on May 31 at Eastern Illinois University’s O’Brien Field.

First, Vaughn Collier, Declan Slavin, Tra’Monti Williams and Preston Ellis won Payton’s third consecutive state title in the 4×800 relay at 7 minutes, 38.95 seconds. That was a new 2A state-meet record, breaking the old mark set last season in the finals by the same four runners.

Next, Williams ran a personal-best 1:53.77 to win the 800. Then, Collier won the 1,600 in 4:22.86 after qualifying 10th among 12 finalists. Ellis added a fourth in the 800 (1:55.85).

The Grizzlies tied Richland County for fourth in 2A with 36 points, missing a state trophy by just a point.

Collier, a senior, prepped for this spring by running cross country for the first time last fall.

“Four-by-eight, we did our job,” he said. “Wanted to go sub-7:37, but the time’s great. We’ll have another shot at nationals. And then, this (1,600) is just the cherry on top.

“I was really just hoping to get all-state today. … I was dreading the mile, I guess. But we got into it, it was slow (to start), perfect for me. I just knew that I had to get to that last 400 and from then I could just give them what I’ve got. And that’s what I’m good at, kicking.”

What makes Payton so good at these distances?

“I think it’s the teammates and the coaches,” Collier said. “Like having three insanely good miler and 800 guys. We push each other every practice and the coaches know exactly how to make us push each other to be the best we can — because at no practice do we want to be the last one.”

Williams ran the fastest split in the 4×800, a 1:52.57 on the third leg, before handing the baton to Ellis for a 1:53.53 anchor.

“Coaches hyped me up to do (the 800), even after the 4×8,” Williams said. “This is something I’ve been looking forward to, excited to do. And I saw the opportunity on that track to win a state title and I just took it. That was my moment, I wanted it.”

Williams credits the Grizzlies’ success to the culture fostered by coaches Dan Dziubski and Adam Palumbo.

“My coaches come from a strong track program, coming from York,” Williams said. “The 4×8 there was very strong … and when they came to coach at Payton, they dragged it right along with them. They built the 4×8 from the bottom up. Year by year, kept improving and this is where we are right now.”

“It means everything,” Ellis said of the 4×800 meet record. “This has been our goal the whole season, and honestly, today was just about executing. We all knew what we had to do, and we executed today.”

In Class 3A, Kenwood finished fourth with 29 points, nine points away from a trophy.

Senior Armond Boulware led the Broncos, taking third in the 200 (21.50), seventh in the 100 (10.66) and running in two third-place relays. He joined Tayior Shurtliff, Logic West and Parrish Harley Jr. in the 4×100 (41.35) and teamed with West, Nicholas Segura and Jordan Rabb in the 4×200 (1:27.29).

“Not exactly what I wanted out of the day,” Boulware said. “There were a lot of things we could have touched up on. But I’m actually pretty proud of my team for the way we handled everything, Shook off our trials and tribulations and went on about it.”

Also earning medals for Kenwood were Hartley in the 100 (ninth, 10.67) and long jump (ninth, 22-7.25), West in the 400 (ninth, 52.08) and the eighth-place 4×400 relay team of Jahari Horne, Shurtliff, Neil Courtney and West (3:21.24).

Young’s Aidan Matlock, Quinn Duhon, Max Warner and Aaron Champion took sixth in the 3A 4×200 relay at 1:29:02.

Photos provided by IHSA

4×200 Relay (Kenwood)