By Mike Clark
The runners come and go for Payton’s boys, but the tradition lives on for the Grizzlies’ 3,200-meter relay team.
Payton won the Class 2A state title for the second straight year on Saturday, and now has finished second or better three years in a row in the IHSA state meet at Eastern Illinois University’s O’Brien Field.
The Grizzlies had one of the Public League’s two titles on the day, joining Kenwood’s 800 relay team.
Payton’s 2023 state champs in the 3,200 relay had just one runner back from the team that finished second in 2A in 2022, and this year’s quartet had just one runner back from last year’s winners.
But the Grizzlies just keep getting better and better in the event. This year, junior Vaughn Collier, sophomore Declan Slavin, sophomore Tra’Monti Williams and junior Preston Ellis won in a Class 2A record of 7:42.68. Slavin was the lone holdover from the 2023 champs.
“I think it really speaks to our program,” Ellis said. “We’ve got a great group of guys, an even better group of coaches used to training these 400-, 800-meter guys. And we subscribe to that program and this is what we have to show for it.”
Williams was in the crowd to watch last year’s winning team.
“We’ve been training every single weekend of the year,” he said. “Some of us were inspired by those (2023) runners to come in and try to do this ourselves. Being able to come in with (almost) a completely different team and still be able to achieve something like a state title and a meet record, it means a lot.”
Both Ellis and Williams came back to win medals in the 800, with each of them posting PRs. Ellis was fifth in 1:54.86 and Williams tied for ninth in 1:55.54.
Winning two state medals “is everything I’ve dreamed of from the beginning of the season,” Ellis said. “This was the goal.”
“I’m just grateful,” Williams said. “We ran the 4-by-8 and then we had to come back and do it again, and still be able to run what we do — it means a lot.”
Kenwood’s 800-relay team of junior Logic West, junior David Campbell, senior Xavier Johnson and junior Armond Boulware ran a program-record 1:26.82 in the Class 3A 800 relay.
That’s the second-fastest time in the event in Illinois this season, something the Broncos had been building toward.
At the Public League Championships, where Kenwood ran 1:29.42, Boulware said, “We didn’t get a PR but we did our absolute best and we feel like we can do something a lot better heading towards downstate.”
After dominating in the city with Public League indoor and outdoor team titles, the Broncos looked to make a splash at state.
“That’s what we’ve had our mind focused on since the beginning of the season.” he said at the Public League meet. “So now we just follow through and execute.”
The Broncos did that, finishing fourth in Class 3A with 37 points. Junior Parrish Hartley Jr. had a big day, winning four medals. He was third in the long jump at 22-10.75, third in the 200 with a PR of 21.57 and fourth in the 100 at 10.69, in addition to joining West, Boulware and Campbell on the third-place 400 relay team (41.80).
“I think my long jump should have been better,” Hartley said. “I could have (taken) that title. The 100, I gave it all I’ve got, the 200 was definitely my best event today.”
Being one of the few athletes to compete in four events in Saturday’s finals, Hartley was “very” worn out afterward. But somehow he summoned the energy to set that PR in his final race of the day.
Watching his teammates take first in the 800 relay provided an extra shot of adrenaline.
“I (saw) they went out there and won, so I wanted to do my best for them,” Hartley said.
Also earning medals in Class 3A were Young’s 3,200 relay team of Kendall Easterly, Dalton Lowery, Silas Moody and Calvin Allaband-Gamble (sixth, season-best of 7:45.83), Mather’s Mohamed Abdullahi in the 1,600 (sixth, 4:16.77), Taft’s Lucas Rumba in the 400 (eighth, 50.00) and Lane’s 1,600 relay team of Owen Lilley, Jayden Smith, Noah Mayra and Ewan McPhilliamy (ninth, 3:28.15).
Other medal winners in Class 2A were South Shore’s Kaleb Tucker in the 110 hurdles (fourth, 14.69), Sullivan’s Ibrahim Diakite in the 100 (fifth, 10.74), Westinghouse’s Leavell Windfield Jr. in the triple jump (sixth, PR of 44-3.5) and Westinghouse’s Nyrion Moss in the 300 hurdles (ninth, 41.06).
