Donald Pollitt recites phrases to himself right before every race to get into the right mind-set.

“You worked so hard to get to this point. These guys are nothing. They do the same things you do. They’re not that better than you.

“I can run with these guys.”

The Syracuse junior hurdler ran past his competition on April 19, winning the Atlantic Coast Conference 110-meter hurdles in 13.81 seconds. It was just the next step in an impressive season for Pollitt, who is not only solidifying himself as one of the leaders of a dominant hurdling team, but is building the strongest individual hurdling season since former SU runner Jarret Eaton won the national championships in 2012.

Pollitt credits that success in part to his pregame pump-up routine.

“I’ve got to be aggressive and reckless,” Pollittt said. “Just run through the hurdles, don’t hold anything back. Don’t think about anything, just do it.”

SU sprints and hurdles coach Dave Hegland, who coached Eaton for four years, recognizes that while Eaton and Pollitt are each confident runners, they have distinctive style differences.

Hegland emphasized Pollitt’s stamina and ability to speed up late in races. He said those factors help counterbalance the height and strength that were Eaton’s greatest strengths.

“I think (Pollitt)’s really as good as anyone in the country in the last three or four hurdles,” Hegland said. “He’s fantastic there.”

Pollitt thinks he has finally emerged from Eaton’s shadow.

In the indoor season, Pollitt made his first-ever NCAA Indoor National Championships and earned second-team All-American honors for his 12th place finish.

Pollitt has had an even stronger start to his outdoor season, winning the 110-meter hurdles at the ACC Outdoor Championships.

Eaton, who is Syracuse’s lone track and field national champion, graduated two years ago, but still trained with the team until leaving recently to continue his professional career.

Once he left, Pollitt started to find his stride as a leader.

“I can say that I’m coming into my own,” Pollitt said. “Jarret can’t go to the meets with us, so I felt that I, and my teammates as well, had to take that responsibility (of being a leader).”

Pollitt, and fifth-year hurdler Amadou Gueye, have assumed the leadership duties in mentoring young hurdlers, such as freshman Freddie Crittenden, in hopes of continuing the program’s recent success in hurdling.

Gueye even thinks that he and Pollitt have been more of a vocal presence than Eaton, who was more likely to lead by example.

“People see that and kind of follow in our footsteps,” Gueye said. “I think we’re doing a pretty good job of filling his shoes — massive shoes to fill, obviously — but I think he and I have done a really good job of taking over for him.”

Gueye recognizes that since he’ll be leaving after this season, Pollitt will be the most experienced hurdler left and will be looked up to by everyone else.

He also believes that Pollitt will succeed as a leader as he has already seen him mentor some of the younger players.

“(Pollitt) is pointing out things that I should watch for, like diet and different things that freshmen usually struggle with,” Crittenden said. “He’ll always point out the small things that I need to pay attention to, and that’s helping me out a lot.”

With Pollitt rising to the occasion, the entire hurdling team has been successful this outdoor season.

After setting multiple personal bests during the first two weeks of the outdoor season, the team dominated the ACC Outdoor Championships’ 110-meter hurdles event, with four hurdlers placing within the top seven — Pollitt taking first, Crittenden second, Gaye fourth and junior Darren McCluskey seventh.

“It just shows that the program we have here at SU is growing and it’s getting better each year,” Pollitt said. “The program we have here is one of the greatest ones in the country.”

Published on April 23, 2014 at 1:15 am