CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Wadsworth senior Jake Hiltner was on the radar as a top 800-meter runner all season, but whether he was a mild disturbance or an oncoming storm was never certain until late May. Hiltner thundered his way to a winning time of 1:50.63 at the Division I North Canton district meet, a four-second improvement on his previous...
Jake Hiltner surged as the season wore on and was at his best in the Division I state meet, winning the 800 and helping his team take fourth place.
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(Joshua Gunter / The Plain Dealer)
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Wadsworth senior Jake Hiltner was on the radar as a top 800-meter runner all season, but whether he was a mild disturbance or an oncoming storm was never certain until late May.
Hiltner thundered his way to a winning time of 1:50.63 at the Division I North Canton district meet, a four-second improvement on his previous best and an effort that would stand as the best in Ohio this season. He went on to win the regional and state meets, and is The Plain Dealer's Boys Track Athlete of the Year.
At the state meet, Hiltner had a hand in nearly all of fourth-place Wadsworth's 28 team points. He displayed stunning closing speed, anchoring Wadsworth's winning 4x800 relay. His 1:50.6 split brought the Grizzlies across the line in 7:39.72, the fastest time in Ohio history. After winning the 800 in 1:51.15, Hiltner anchored the third-place 4x400 relay.
Prior to the district meet, Hiltner busied himself running every distance from the 100 to the 3,200, adding speed and endurance but never running a fresh, competitive 800. The week before districts, he had four firsts and broke four records at the Suburban League meet, including a 48.39 in the 400 and a 1:54.27 just 30 minutes later in the 800.
The brother of former Wadsworth distance runners Zach and Max Hiltner, who was a 1,600 state champ in 2006, Jake set himself apart as an all-around athlete. Though he heard late in the season from track coaches at Oklahoma State and Virginia, Hiltner said he is leaning toward Ashland to play soccer and run track. Up until the state meet, he considered himself a soccer player who ran.
Now, he considers himself a half-miler first and foremost. The late-season gathering storm unleashed a newfound appreciation for the event.
"It's all about the first lap," he said. "Until you run fresh, you don't know what you can go out at, and then come back with. I like the last 200 because I usually sit on my opponents until then and I just out-kick them the last 200."