One-hundredth of a second.

That’s how close Syracuse freshman hurdler Freddie Crittenden was to beating an All-American.

When Crittenden finished in second place, just a hair behind All-American teammate Donald Pollitt in the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship preliminaries at 7.84 seconds, it was a finish very few saw coming.

And even fewer anticipated Crittenden nearly duplicating that time in the finals, finishing in just 7.88 seconds to take fifth place in the 60-meter hurdles.

“The main thing is to keep progress going,” Crittenden said. “The way I’m going now I’m progressing, so I’m feeling pretty happy about that.”

It was a remarkable finish to a rough indoor season for Crittenden.

From dealing with injuries early on in the season to being forced to watch his teammates run while rehabilitating, Crittenden put all of that aside to shock onlookers with his blazing performance on the biggest stage this past weekend, and hopes to continue improving moving forward.

Crittenden’s time didn’t qualify him for the IC4A Championships on March 8, but finished a shaky season on a high note, ranking in the top 30 freshmen in the nation in the 60-meter hurdles.

“It was a great end of the season for him,” Syracuse assistant coach Dave Hegland said. “He made some real good choices for the rest of the season in terms of how he managed his health.”

It’s only been a few months since the young hurdler first lined up at the start line. He was a national champion in high school, at one point was ranked as the top hurdler in the nation and was supposed to be one of Syracuse’s most promising freshmen.

But when that first horn sounded none of that mattered. The freshman phenom cleared his first hurdle, but that was it. As he brought his right leg down he felt it shift awkwardly. He tripped, fell, knocked over the second hurdle and injured his leg.

The former high school star wasn’t even able to finish his very first collegiate race.

“It was bad, it was just bad,” Crittenden said, who now laughs at his miserable start to the season. “I knew (the injury) wasn’t that bad.

“But I knew it was going to have an effect on how my indoor season was going to turn out.”

Crittenden was limited to competing in only four meets before competing in the ACC championships this weekend. He believes it was the time he took to let himself heal that was a key factor behind his shocking performance.

“I think I wouldn’t have been able to perform that well if I hadn’t taken the time and the patience to make sure my leg healed properly,” Crittenden said. “Really taking the time to let that heal and recovery has made it so I was able to perform that well at (the ACC Conference Championship).”

While not many outsiders foresaw Crittenden’s ACC championship performance, his coaches and teammates were of the few that weren’t surprised.

“I think he’s just a great competitor. I know that’s cliché, but I think he enjoys big situations.” Hegland said. “I think he just responded very well. I think he just rose to the occasion.”

Pollitt recognized Crittenden’s raw talent early on, and, along with his teammates, helped maximize the freshman’s potential.

Crittenden worked with former Syracuse national champion Jarret Eaton, graduate student Amadou Gueye and juniors Darren McCluskey and Pollitt, and it was beneficial for him to work with such an experienced group.

“He has great natural ability and we just brought it out of him more,” Pollitt said.

Crittenden believes that the extra practicing with the training groups after returning from injury is what helped spark his recent breakthrough.

He also credits Hegland’s preaching of sleep, nutrition, recovery and proper dieting, as what has helped his strong return.

Said Crittenden: “Just constantly leaning on the words of my coach and teammates has really brought me a long way in a short period of time.”

Published on March 6, 2014 at 12:01 am