North Jersey Male Athlete of the Week is finally healthy and fulfilling his promise
Few North Jersey track and field athletes have ever started their career as quickly and with such promise as Allan Hilton Clarke.
He made the finals in the 55 meters in every meet he competed in and capped his freshman winter season by finishing second in the Non-Public A state championship and ranked as one of the top 10 freshman sprinters in the nation.
Then the COVID pandemic hit in the spring of 2020, followed by a series of hamstring injuries over the next two years that limited him to just three races indoors and two outdoors. It could have taken his enthusiasm away, but that's not what happened to Hilton Clarke.
"I'm not going to say it wasn't difficult and there were some days that I wasn't so positive," Hilton Clarke said. "I just tried to show up every day I could and try to figure it out. My family really supported me, my teammates really supported me and coach (Mike) Begen really supported me."
"None of this was his fault," said Begen, the Bergen Catholic coach who has also helped Hilton Clarke in his role as a personal trainer. "What he went through was really tough to handle, but I call him Mr. Positivity. I asked him to trust me and he did. He just showed up and just kept training."
Hilton Clarke's first hamstring issue happened in the fall of 2020 when he was training for football and pulled his right hamstring while practicing route running. It kept nagging and he missed the entire year.
"I decided to give up football and focus on track and field," said Hilton Clarke, who began running with the Hackensack Junior Track program in fourth grade.
The 2021-2022 school year was better but the left hamstring had become a problem, limiting him to only a few tries at sprinting. He still participated in the high jump, where he consistently cleared 6 feet. Yet he drew inspiration from the teammate he had beaten at the state indoor meet two years earlier.
"I got to watch Fabian (France) every day and I look up to him and saw first hand what he's made of himself,'' Hilton Clarke said of his teammate and friend, who went to on earn All-American honors last winter in the dash and now plays football at Navy. "He's just exploded and he's just an animal out there.''
Hilton Clarke credits his physical therapist, Dr. Garret Rumsby for helping maintain his current level of fitness now that he's healthy, and says he's constantly stretching and lifting to keep himself healthy.
"Coach Begen is always there, checking me and I have to keep an eye on what I'm doing to stay fit," he said.
And it's working − Hilton Clarke has scored personal bests in both the 200 and high jump, is the top athlete in North Jersey in the 55, high jump, and his newest event, the triple jump.
"As long as I keep getting better, dropping PRs and staying healthy, it'll be a successful year," he said.
Keep your fingers crossed.
Allan Hilton Clarke
Sport: Indoor track and field
School: Bergen Catholic
Class: Senior. Age: 18
Accomplishment: Allan competed in three meets in five days, taking fourth in the 55 at the Ocean Breeze Games against the best sprinters in the Northeast, and jumped a Bergen leading 6-2 taking 4th in the high jump. He then triple jumped for the first time in his career and briefly took the Bergen County lead and then capped his week by winning all three events (and taking 3rd in the 200) at the Big North United meet.
Also nominated: Sean Golden of River Dell, Daniel Kim of Palisades Park, Anthony Pizzuti of Lyndhurst, and Deron McLaughlin of Park Ridge for basketball; Dean Costantino of Secaucus for wrestling; Jake Weiner of Wayne Valley and Alex Bagdan of Pascack Hills for bowling; and Brandon Barreto of Dumont for indoor track and field.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Record Male Athlete of the Week: Allan Hilton Clarke, Bergen Catholic
