Last year, Donald Pollitt lacked the right training habits off of the track.

The junior had problems maintaining his diet, and it deterred his ability to participate in the 2012 Big East Indoor Championships.

“We were honest with him and told him, ‘One of the main things that is keeping you from running fast is you let yourself get a little soft,’” assistant coach Dave Hegland said.

Pollitt was less fit, and veered away from his commitment to both his training sessions and meets.

But starting last summer, Pollitt changed his diet. He began eating more and built up his appetite to five or six meals a day. But most importantly, he watched what he ate. A year later, Pollitt’s one of the top runners on the team, and is putting himself in position to earn a spot at the 2013 NCAA Indoor Championships.

But before being able to do that, Pollitt had to completely re-evaluate his eating habits.

“It was just about putting the right things in my body,” Pollitt said. “When I come here, do a hard workout and then go eat something terrible, I don’t have the benefits of healing my body and getting ready for the next day.”

After missing last year’s event, Pollitt proved his new commitment. The diet paid off after he won the gold medal in the 60-meter hurdles with a personal record time of 7.79 seconds at the Big East Indoor Championships in Geneva, Ohio, two weekends ago.

“I am happy for myself, but I worked hard to get to this point,” Pollitt said. “Last year, my diet wasn’t the best, and I knew I had to put a better work ethic into my training.”

During his three years at SU, Pollitt has also had the opportunity to train next to two of Syracuse’s most notable sprinters.

One of them is former Orange athlete Jarret Eaton – Syracuse’s first national champion – who won the 60-meter hurdles in the 2012 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.

The other is senior Amadou Gueye, who finished .02 seconds behind Pollitt in this year’s Big East championships. Gueye has won two Big East silver medals – finishing in the race’s top five in each of his three seasons.

But after Eaton graduated last year, Gueye embraced Pollitt as a teammate and new catalyst in the race.

“Now that (Eaton) is gone, it kind of put a burden on us because it’s the first time we’ve been expected to uphold the tradition he and Ramon Sosa established (in the 60-meter hurdles),” Gueye said. “It feels really good to be able to do that at a high level now.”

With this year’s victory, Pollitt joins Eaton (2012) and Sosa (2009) as one of three SU athletes in five years to win the 60-meter hurdles at the Big East championship.

Going into the race, assistant coach Hegland thought it was possible for Pollitt and Gueye to place first and second, but said the event is tough to predict.

But Pollitt knew Gueye would be right next to him.

“I’m happy I beat (Amadou), but at the same time, whoever won the race, either way, it was coming back to Syracuse,” Pollitt said. “We compete against each other every single day and every chance we get, and I knew if I wasn’t on top of my game, he was going to beat me, or vice versa.”

Hegland has noticed the two teammates take a lot of pride in the 60-meter hurdles as they train and push each other every day.

This week, Pollitt and Gueye will practice together in preparation for the Columbia Last Chance at the Armory in New York City, where they hope to qualify for nationals.

As the event’s name indicates, it is the last opportunity for athletes to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., on March 8.

“I think they just have to keep doing what they’re doing,” Hegland said. “Those guys are prepared really well, and if they stay focused, things should go well this weekend.”

Published on February 26, 2013 at 1:27 am

Contact Bryan: bwrubin@syr.edu