Vorn Ellis made up a 40-meter deficit in the final race of the night, the 1600-meter relay, and chased down a first place finish while clinching a second place team finish for Evanston’s track team at the Red Grange Invitational meet held Friday at Wheaton Warrenville South.
Ellis ran down Champaign Central anchorman Daniel Lacy, with a split of 49.34 seconds, and nipped him at the finish as ETHS clocked in 3 minutes, 29.47 seconds to Centennial’s 3:29.53. He combined with teammates Miles Granjean, Cormac Schliesmann and Skyler Lee for the winning effort in a meet conducted in A, B and C flights in every event except relays.
Batavia outscored the Wildkits 63-62 in the Class A team standings in a matchup of teams that both placed in the top 10 at the Illinois High School Association state finals last spring. Batavia also scored the most points in the B standings — ETHS was fourth with 36 – and in the C standings, 76-59, over the Wildkits.
Matt Cless contributed individual wins for Evanston in the A high jump (1.85 meters) and B 400-meter dash (52.42), and also took fifth in the A 100 in 11.43. The Wildkits also counted wins from Evan Siegel in the C 300 hurdles, in 44.80, and Justin Tharyil in the B high jump, 1.80 meters. Ellis also placed runnerup in the B 400 in 50.61.