As he searched his memory, Patrick Hilby couldn’t help but smile.
Did the Aurora Central Catholic track star remember the first time someone asked him for his autograph?
“I think it was at an early indoor meet this past winter,” Hilby said. “I was honestly in shock, thinking, ‘Is he joking?’ I think it was a hat he asked me to sign.”
Get used to it, young man.
The word was out, at least in the track community, and it has since spread.
Hilby won his specialty, the 800-meter run, in the Class 2A state meet as a junior. A few weeks later, he finished fourth in the event at the New Balance Nationals in Philadelphia.
In November, he signed at Wisconsin for a track scholarship as his final high school indoor season approached.
“Last year, I didn’t have all the attention,” Hilby said. “This year, it was weird, going to meets and kids would be asking to take a picture or for an autograph.
“I think I enjoyed it. It was fun but just kind of interesting, noticing that people are watching you.”
The best was yet to come.
Hilby capped his high school career by winning the 800 and 400 at the Class 2A state meet. He followed that up June 12 by taking second with a personal-best 1:47.92 in the Brooks PR Invitational in Seattle, then winning this year’s New Balance Nationals, again in Philadelphia, with a personal-best 1:47.55.
The best high school time in the nation this year, it ranks tied for sixth all-time in the nation and first all-time for Illinois.
We’re talking impressive.
ACC coach Troy Kerber marveled this winter at Hilby, whom he has dubbed “a generational talent.”
It started with the Catholic League’s indoor meet held at the Worrill Track and Field Center at Gately Park, which features a banked track.
“There was a long line of people at the track watching Patrick and that was just when he was going for a warm-up,” Kerber said. “At another meet at St. Laurence, he got mobbed by a group of girls after a race. It was like the second coming of Elvis or the Beatles.”
The first week of April, early in the outdoor season, Hilby was invited to compete at the high-profile Arcadia Invitational in California. He won the 800 in 1:49.47, the top time in the nation at that point in the season.
He defended his state title in the 800 in 1:52.39, won the 400 in 48.08 and anchored the 1,600 relay that took third place for the Chargers.
The slower time at state was expected since he ran six races in two days with preliminaries.
“The goal was just to win your races and get points for the team,” Hilby said. “I wasn’t going for anything special in the 800 with two races after that.”
In the Brooks meet in Seattle, Hilby’s 1:47.92 trailed only freshman phenom Cooper Lutkenhaus, a Justin, Texas native who ran a 1:47.58.
“He was a monster,” Hilby said of Lutkenhaus. “I had him on my radar and knew he had a chance because he goes out and competes.”
Hilby said making his final kick “a little too early” likely cost him a chance at a win.
His win in the New Balance race, however, was unique.
“I actually negative split,” Hilby said of the race’s two laps. “My second lap was faster. If you want to run your fastest 800, your first lap should be two seconds faster than your second.
“I didn’t think I could PR and negative split. It just shows you can go even faster if you go out harder (in the first lap). I must’ve been feeling a lot better at New Balance.”
The previous year, he said he did a lot of sightseeing in Philadelphia.
“This year, I stayed more low key and off my feet, so I was more rested,” he said.
It’s been an impressive run — pun intended — for Hilby. He started as a three-sport athlete at Aurora Central Catholic, also playing football and basketball.
With COVID-shortened seasons his freshman year, he followed a neighbor’s suggestion and tried cross country in the fall before playing football in the spring and then running track.
Early success led him to drop football the next year when he realized the potential he had.
“As a freshman, I thought I’d be more focused on football and basketball and not track,” Hilby said. “It just shows you where it can take you. It’s pretty interesting.”
He credits Kerber, who has overseen his workouts all four years.
“He saw something in me even that freshman year, when I thought I was a football sprinter type and jumper and was running 2:10s in the 800,” HIlby said. “Even this year during the 12 days after state, I asked him for help and he outlined workouts for me.
“Training wise, it’s been coach Kerber. No one else really. It’s worked for four years. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it, I guess.”
Hilby took a fitness class in school and did much of his weight training on his own, and it shows.
“It feels amazing,” he said. “Four years ago, I would not have felt I would be in this position at all, running these times. It super exciting, especially knowing some of the great (800) runners that have come from Illinois.”
The legacy assured, Kerber said of Hilby, “He’s a legend.”
The best thing about it?
He’s one with even faster times ahead.
