Franklin's Billy Hill is the CN Boys Indoor Track Athlete of the Year
As Billy Hill of the Franklin High School boys indoor track team made the final turn in the 1600-meter final at the NJSIAA Central Group IV state sectionals, he heard the crowd’s roar.
The fans knew they were going to witness a thrilling finish, what they didn’t know was that Franklin’s prolific senior runner would come back to clinch the gold medal after trailing his opponent by 10 meters with just 50 meters remaining in the race.
“In the last 50 meters the crowd was just screaming and I just got the energy,” said Hill, who is the 2016-17 Courier News Boys Indoor Track Athlete of the Year. “I just want to finish every race and never leave anything left on the track. I knew I had that little bit left and that I could just push through. I had to dig deep though, because that was a tough race.”
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The Rutgers University commit used that extra boost from the crowd and was able to just cross the line right before Princeton’s Alex Roth for a photo-finish.
Hill beat out Roth by 0.06 seconds, so close that when Hill crossed the line, he wasn’t even sure who won.
“When they said my name I just couldn’t believe it,” Hill said. “It was excitement and also surprise but then in my head I immediately knew I needed to prepare next week for groups.”
The following week at the Group IV Championships, Hill took home the bronze medal in the 1600 while setting a new indoor track school record at 4:17.54. At the Meet of Champions, Hill took home the silver medal and ended his winter track career with a second-place finish in the 800 at the Eastern State Championships.
For Hill, running alongside the some of the best runners from the Northeast was a tremendous honor.
“In the beginning of the year I knew I wanted to go to this meet,” Hill said. “It was three or four days after the Meet of Champions so I knew had a little time to recover. I wasn’t as nervous as I would be at a New Jersey meets because I just had to go out there and do my best. I was just having fun and just being out there with all the amazing athlete was just so cool.”
If Hill is nervous before the New Jersey meets, it never shows as he is the ultimate competitor that trusts in his preparation. To better prepare for the upcoming track season, Hill enrolled in cross country this past fall for the first time in his career. Previously, Hill was the varsity goalkeeper for the Warriors during the fall, but at the start of his senior year, he decided he’d give up the sport he’s been playing since he was four-years-old to run cross country.
The decision proved to be the right one as Hill was named the 2016 Courier News Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year this past December. But his main reason for giving up soccer for cross country was to stay in shape for when the track season started.
“For the first time, he was able to build a big base in the fall," Franklin’s long distance coach Tony Racioppi said. “When he came into the winter he already had that distance base to him so we didn’t have to over train him.”
Hill’s time dropped three seconds in his 1600 and six seconds in his 800 from last year’s winter track season. While the decision to stop playing soccer turned out to be the right one, Hill still felt as if he was abandoning his soccer teammates when he made the decision to run cross country.
“I think the thing with Billy Hill is that he’s the furthest thing from a quitter,” Racioppi said. “That was the thing that kind of bothered him. He kind of felt like he was letting his teammates down but I think he knew because he was running in college, that this was what he had to do.”
While Hill will be running next fall as a Scarlet Knight, when he first took up track he could have never imagined becoming a Division I athlete.
“My freshman year coming in I didn’t think I could be in the place I am in now,” Hill said. “I didn’t expect to be getting a scholarship from Rutgers, I couldn’t even have imagined that.”
When the spring track season concludes, Hill will remember the times spent celebrating with his teammates and family after his meets.
“Once I finished the race I worked over my team and all the coaches and kids were embracing me and hugging me,” Hill said of his sectional title win. “When I went over to see my family, all of my dad’s side was there. My grandmother, grandfather, uncle and cousins were all there, it was really nice to have them there.”