Patrick Hilby appears to be the next big thing in boys track for Aurora Central Catholic, but he hopes he isn’t finished growing. The 5-foot-8 junior wants to get taller.
As a middle distance runner, Hilby has been on the rise — and currently sits near the top of his class. And we’re not limiting it to the school on Edgelawn Drive on Aurora’s West Side.
It’s why always enthusiastic ACC coach Troy Kerber is even more pumped up than usual for the postseason to begin Friday for the Chargers at the Class 2A Genoa-Kingston Sectional.
“Patrick is physically very strong and very fast,” Kerber said. “He can run anything from 100 meters to three miles. He’s run 11-flat in the 100, 22s in the 200, a 48.5-second split in the 1,600 relay.
“He plays basketball and played football his first two years here and is a good, all-around athlete.”
Hilby has blossomed in the middle distances, especially the 800-meter run after finishing third last spring in the Class 2A state meet. He also took third in the state in the 400.
This year, Hilby won the 800 at the Illinois Prep Top Times unofficial indoor state meet in Bloomington in a record time of 1:54. He followed it up with an outdoor personal record in winning the Distance Night at Palatine in 1:52.32.
According to Kerber, Hilby has been ranked in the top 32 in the U.S. in the 800 and No. 8 in the nation. Hilby’s time at Palatine was No. 1 in the state this season until recently eclipsed by Hinsdale Central senior Dan Watcke.
ACC has had a slew of strong 800 runners in boys and girls track under Kerber’s guidance, including outdoor state champs Karina Liz in 2014 and 2015 and Abby Fioresi in 2017, but never an outdoor boys champ.
“I’d like to win and be the first ACC boys outdoor state champ, obviously,” Hilby said. “But also beat the 2A state record that was set last year in the race I finished third.”
Lincoln senior Garrett Slack set that mark with a 1:51.84.
Hilby, who said he started running track in school in fifth grade but “didn’t take it that seriously,” looks to be a natural.
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His mother, Anne, ran middle distance at Immaculate Conception and in college at Loras. That’s where she met his dad, Chuck, a Dubuque native who ran the 800 in high school and worked summers at Loras camps.
“I hope I can grow a few more inches,” Patrick Hilby said. “My dad is pretty tall — like 6-2 or 6-3.”
Chuck Hilby is also an assistant varsity track coach at West Aurora, working with hurdlers and jumpers for coach Cortney Lamb.
“In elementary school, I wanted to be in the NFL, NBA,” Patrick said. “By the time I got to high school, my parents let me know I could be a pretty good runner and track was probably going to be my main sport.”
Chuck Hilby said that while his son, the oldest of four children in the family, grew up in a “track household seeing me watching a lot of film, I didn’t want to be ‘track, track, track’ to him. And coach Kerber has always done a great job with Patrick.”
Patrick added the 1,600 to his repertoire this season. He posted a personal and program record of 4:18 in taking second at the Kane County Meet.
He will likely limit his sectional schedule to the 800 and anchoring a competitive 1,600 relay with senior Armando Acosta and juniors Jacob Gay and Tom Keller.
“I wouldn’t be an all-state sprinter, but I still have pretty good speed and my endurance helps me in the 800,” Hilby said. “I like to take it out pretty fast and see who can go with me.
“Last year at state, I didn’t want to do that, knowing I wasn’t the fastest in the field. It can be fun to sit behind someone and then kick the last 200 and go for the win.”
Despite never running summer meets, Hilby has received recruiting interest from programs like North Carolina, Illinois, Iowa, Iowa State, Tennessee and Wisconsin.
“I’m not the only one in my class getting those calls,” Hilby said. “I have to stay humble and keep working hard.”
He hopes to run in a large meet in St. Louis the week after state and will try to qualify for the New Balance Nationals in mid-June.
His best is definitely yet to come.