Hilby’s US #1 time in 800 Meter Run top highlight at NCC Boys Invitational

Great performances part of inaugural meet at North Central College

By Michael Newman

Naperville, Ill. – It is when you least expect it to happen. Patrick Hilby was not chasing after a fast time on Thursday night inside the Res/Rec Center on the campus of North Central College.

“I did not think I would run that fast tonight,” the Aurora Central senior said after the meet. “I was hoping for a time near 1:53-1:54. I did not expect that.”

Watch the Patrick Hilby post-race interview here.

Hilby shot to the lead and never looked by as he dispatched the rest of the field running a national prep leading time of 1:50.50 in winning the 800 Meter Run. All-state runner from last year’s state meet Owen Horeni of Yorkville ran an indoor personal best of 1:58.62 to finish second. He was just two seconds away from his overall personal best.

Watch Section 3 of the 800 Meter Run

The 800 belonged to Hilby as soon as the gun went off to start the race. Hilby flew by the first 200 in 25.6 and was all alone at the halfway point in 53.3. “I saw the scoreboard when I passed by 600-meters (1:21.9),” Hilby added. “It did not feel that I was running that fast.”

He was. His next focus 800 Meter Run will come in a couple of weeks at the New Balance Indoor Nationals. His fitness level and confidence look strong at this moment even though his focus is to run fast in May and June.

Results | Videos

Hilby also ran in the 4x400m Relay anchoring for Aurora Central Catholic. He moved from the back of the pack but could not catch the section leading team from Naperville Central finishing second. The Redhawks were disqualified for cutting in early giving the win to the Chargers in 3:33.87 (IL #4). Yorkville ran 3:34.99 (IL #6) to finish second. Hilby’s anchor split was a fast 48.6 seconds.

This inaugural meet was the first big invitational meet in Illinois this season. The performances showed that this meet will be a fixture in the February Boys track schedule in Illinois. Naperville Central scored 115 points to win the team title in this 11 school meet. Wheaton-Warrenville South (83.5 points) and Batavia (67 points) finished second and third ahead of Yorkville (65 points) and West Aurora (60 points).

Hilby’s state leading performance was just one of many early state bests in the season in this meet.

Da’jion Riley has been the hot sprinter in the state leading in the 55 Meter Dash. The Wheaton-Warrenville South senior did not get out of the blocks smoothly but left the rest of the field at 30-meters. Riley won the race lowering his state best time of 6.44 seconds. Amari Alexander of Hinsdale South ran 6.58 (IL #2) edging Batavia’s Nathan Whitwell (6.59, IL #3) for second.

It was a great race in the 55 Meter Hurdles. Amari Williams of Wheaton-Warrenville South was even with Bode Smith of Naperville Central as the two went over the final hurdle even. Williams edged Smith for the win in 8.03 (IL #3). Smith ran 8.05 (IL#4) to finish second. Smith came back to run 51.74 (IL #9) to win the 400 Meter Dash.

Josiah Narayanan of Wheaton-Warrenville South led the pack in the 3200 Meter Run at 1600-meters in the race at 4:53. A surge in the ninth lap of the race gave him the lead and the win in the race. Narayanan ran the second mile in a negative split of 4:41 to win the race in a state leading 9:34.98, a personal best indoors and outdoors for this junior. Patrick Clune of Naperville Central moved from fourth in the final 800 to run 9:45.44 (IL #3) to finish second. Aidan Noel of Wheaton-Warrenville South ran 9:47.10 (IL #4) to finish third.

Francesco Benelli of Batavia was the runner that paced the final section of the 1600 Meter Run through 2:15 at 800-meters and 3:24 at 1200-meters. Then the racing began with Aidan Murphy of Wheaton North and Sean Heetland of West Aurora picking up the pace in the final 350-meters. Heetland got by Murphy in the final 50-meters to capture the win in 4:29.68 (IL #9) with Murphy running 4:30.44 (IL #10) to finish second. Benelli ran 4:32.34 to finish third.

Other Meet Performances

Amari Williams took the lead in the final 75 meters to give Wheaton-Warrenville South the win in the 4x200m Relay with a 1:33.43 time (IL #3) edging Batavia (1:33.99, IL #4). It was a close finish in the 4x800m Relay with Naperville Central running 8:31.47 (IL #10) edging Aurora Central Catholic (8:31.57) for the win.

Maverick Ohle of Naperville Central had a 53-2.5 put (IL #5) to win the Shot Put with Ryan Stribiak of Yorkville finish second (52-2.75, IL #6). Naperville Central took the top two spots in the Pole Vault. Jordan Hanford and Henry Kane cleared 14-4.75 to finish first and second.

Stephen Moss of Wheaton North cleared 5-11.75 to win the High Jump. Tyrin Stewart of Zion-Benton ran 23.25 to edge Amari Alexander of Hinsdale South (23.31) for the win in the 200 Meter Dash.

Batavia swept the first two places in the Long Jump with Matisse Contreras and Isiah Brown both jumping 20-5.75. Azuriah Sylvester of West Aurora jumped an IL #2 mark of 45-4.5 to win the Triple Jump.