Dajour "Cinnamon" Miles has tore apart the youth and junior high circuits over the past several years. High School track and field is her next target (Joy Johnson/Aurora Flyers photo credit)
"Summer, Summer, Summer Time…" yeah I know most of you have listened to this legendary hip hop tune by Will Smith going back to 1991. It is now 2015 and the summer time was officially blessed in to me last weekend. I took a two-day odyssey with my wife to Indiana to see my parents. Then it was on to St. Louis for the hyped up Festival of Miles held at St. Louis University High School. It was my second time attending such a fly gala for post-season track and field. The meet organizers instituted only two events: 800m and one-mile run. The main attraction was high school prodigy Grant Fisher. Fisher is like a rock star in the making; he is a track star/legend who traveled from his hometown of Grand Blanc, Michigan in a quest to break 4:00.
I have never in my life have seen a high school kid break four minutes live in the flesh. There were only six runners prior to the recently graduated Fisher to do so. Matt Maton of Oregon was the sixth miler to accomplish the massive feat a month ago. So aside from attending this historic event as work, I was also a fan. I had full intentions on watching from the infield as a fan. I did not want to prep questions in my head like "so, what is it like to finally break 4:00 or did you have any doubts in the last 200 you would come up short?" No we already had our esteemed Milesplit National writer to do that lovely chore. I did tweet and add highlights. Like I said earlier it felt like a pleasure moment not work. Sure enough Mr. Fisher broke 4:00- 3:59.38 to be precise. It was the same time as Maton! Maybe they can have a run off before entering college. Fisher stayed on the track infield about 30 minutes after his race to take pics, autographs, and whatever else his adoring fans wanted. The only thing I've seen rival this in all my years around high school track and field was then South Lakes, Virginia high school phenom Alan Webb in 2001. Webb was as big as any track and field athlete that year in terms of notoriety. I once saw him turn around and talk to fans while waiting for the anchor leg of the distance medley relay at indoor nationals. Now that is big time!
Cinnamon is such a nice spice-
The summer is finally heating up literally (I think) in terms of Fahrenheit and that is good news for all of us. Last Saturday when I was returning home from Hinsdale Central High School and the student hosted Chocolate Milk Mile (a great event by the way), I received a call from Thomas Boatright. Boatright is the architect coach of the Aurora Flyers Track Club. He was raving about his team's accomplishments at a meet held at Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights. Boatright pointed out that his prodigy Dajour Miles. Miles also known as "Cinnamon" tore apart the competition which included fellow 8th grader Semira Killebrew of Indianapolis. Miles, Killebrew, and current Indiana superstar sophomore Lynna Irby are the now/next generation of Midwest giant sprinters. Killebrew was supposed to attend Pike High School where Irby goes but a supposed riff between her father and Pike coach Dee Dee Nathan exists. I personally know Dee Dee and she runs a tight ship. She is a former Olympian and World Championship performer. If she and Killebrew's father work things out we are going to see some sickening marks never heard of for Midwest relays. I venture to say the talent rich Pike team will be knocking on the door for 45s in the 4x4 and sub- 3:45 for 4x4. You heard it here first.
Get used to seeing this smile and the medals around Miles neck over the next four years beginning in 2016 (Joy Johnson photo)
Miles will be attending Aurora (Waubonsie Valley) High School in the fall, but her tutelege is all from Boatright. He basically raised her in terms of track and field goes. I remember talking with him about three years ago regarding Miles. I kind of glossed over it because I was not that impressed with a then 4th and 5th grader. It seems like kids need to be kids at such an early age. But now as a soon to be high school kid who is running times similar to our current darling Brittny Ellis (Gurnee Warren) is impossible to ignore. Plus, when Boatright says "Cinnamon is going to run in the 23s before the summer is over" more than caught my attention. Boatright after all has produced so many success stories like current University of Texas ace Morolake Akinosun. Ahh, how about Angelo Brown. Yes, the omnipotent papa Brown of Lincoln-Way East girls fame. He was a disciple of Boatright when he first started coaching.
A colleague of mine told me to hold off on the hype machine for Miles. I shot back and said no the time is ripe. It is now time for "SUMMER TRACK!" Somewhere I think B-Side is uttering these same words. Let the hype begin!
Tonyprepster and IHSA track and field czar Ron McGraw (T. Jones photo)
Last charges-
There has been a lot of IHSA talk in the news lately.Someone very close to me sent me a photo of an article from the Chicago Sun-Times titled "Going out on top." I decided to go and buy a hard copy at the store. What I say in the paper were salaries of top earning executives and their pensions. I learned that Marty Hickman, the IHSA executive director is truly going out on top with big dollars in his suitcase in January 2016. He has a replacement named Craig Anderson who many hailed as a good choice. But there is also talk that he is just a temporary fix for the board of directors. He could be gone before the end of 2016 calendar. Our cross country and track and field czar Ron McGraw is retiring after the 2015-2016 school calendar. Mr. McGraw has served as assistant executive director of the IHSA since 2003. McGraw has made tremendous changes within our sport since his time governing track and field. For example, he oversaw chip timing for the state cross country championship, breaking up travel restrictions, and mandating FAT timing for all state sectional championships in track and field. McGraw has definitely grown in the sport as an administrator over the past 12 years. The sport continues to evolve and who ever takes over will need to be as innovative if not more so than Mr. McGraw was.