Boys Track and Field: St. Charles East’s Micah Wilson highlights standouts at Red Grange Invitational

WHEATON – Track and field lends itself to exceptional athleticism and versatility.

The famed Red Grange Invitational certainly illuminated the concept in the 800-meter run Friday night at Wheaton Warrenville South.

St. Charles East’s Micah Wilson, the defending Class 3A boys state champion in both the 3,200 run and cross country finals, was pitted against reigning Batavia all-state 400 runner Jonah Fallon.

The Wisconsin-bound Wilson overcame a narrow Fallon lead at the gun lap and came home in one minute, 59.28 seconds to deny the Bulldogs’ leader of the reigning state runner-up metric-mile relay by 32 one hundredths.

“I don’t run the 800 very often,” Wilson said. “I am running the mile [Saturday] night at Palatine. I knew [Fallon] was fast. I wanted to think of my abilities and not what he would do.”

Batavia held a double-digit lead over North Shore powers Evanston and New Trier when weather issues delayed the conclusion of three field events.

On the track, Aidan Killmer and Reese Young were dual winners in the championship flight of the three-division competition in the 14 individual events.

Killmer, a Lake Park senior, remained undefeated in the 110 high and 300 intermediate hurdles with respective times of 15.69 and 41.37.

“There are amazing athletes at this meet,” Killmer said. “[The sweep] felt really good tonight. I felt like I ran a perfect technical race in the 110s.”

Young of Wheaton Warrenville South emerged victorious in loaded fields at 100 and 200 meters by claiming both dashes with split-second wins over Danny Eloe and Jamie Harris of Naperville North and Waubonsie Valley, respectively.

“I just had a good finish in both races,” said Young, a senior who is the top returnee in the state at 200 meters.

Young was clocked in 10.92 and 22.65 seconds.

Metea Valley sprinter and hurdler extraordinaire Jalen Johnson missed the competition with knee soreness.

“I still need a lot of work [out of the blocks],” Young said. “When the weather warms up, I will open a lot more and get better times.”

South Elgin Top Times indoor 400 champion Konrad Sacha won his specialty distance in 50.36 seconds.

“I really wanted to run against the top Batavia guys and Jalen Johnson to lower my time,” Sacha said.

Waubonsie Valley weight man Sam Mika chucked the discus 168 feet, 4 inches to join the state leaders with his win.

Ethan Forsell was hopeful a potential win in the 3,200 run would have a different feel than his triumph at the equally prestigious MInooka Invitational the previous weekend.

The Oswego senior once again was denied any meaningful competition in the A Flight of the longest race.

Forsell was never challenged as Waubonsie Valley runner-up Zach Self was almost 20 seconds behind the future Illinois walk-on.

“I have run a couple of 32s this outdoor season,” Forsell said. “I ran alone last week at Minooka. With Palatine [on Saturday], no one is here. I thought [Naperville North senior] Gabe Ryan would be here. I just ran alone. I am trying to figure that out, running alone. I ran a 9:25 indoors; that’s a pretty good time.”

It was the third consecutive individual win for the Panthers as Ben Forsell and Matt Padilla were the victors in the second and third flights with respective times of 9:58.41 and 10:02.1.

The longest race in the sport proved to be an ideal tonic for the Panthers’ program as the quartet of Braden Cardamone, Brady Nelson, Jett Breed and Balin Doud captured the 4x800 relay in 8:10.47.

In the 1,600 run, Doud and Ethan Forsell were runners-up in Flights A and B for Oswego.

In the all-telling championship division, the Panthers scored 54 points to finish behind only Batavia (63) and Evanston (62) in the flight comprising the schools’ top athletes for each of the 14 individual events and four relays.

The Panthers were fifth in Flight C with 37 points; Oswego tied WW South for seventh in the middle division with 34 points.

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