Martin Hehir was disappointed by his indoor season this year.

But looking at some of the accolades he accumulated throughout the season, it’s hard to see why.

“Goals are something important to me,” Hehir said, “and when I don’t reach them, that hurts.”

Hehir, a junior on the Syracuse track and field team, began his indoor season this winter by setting two school records — a 4:00.04 mile at the Boston University Valentine Invitational on Feb. 8 and a 7:59.40 3000-meter at the Penn State Invitational on Feb. 1.

But even with a strong start, Hehir didn’t classify his 2013–14 indoor season as a success, something many athletes would do after collecting two school records in a week. The promising start to the indoor season means nothing to the junior distance runner, who didn’t run as well as he would’ve liked when it counted.

He’s using his indoor performance as motivation to not fall short again in this spring’s outdoor season.

“It’s great to run fast marks at the beginning of the season,” Hehir said. “But it’s the championship races that matter.”

Head coach Chris Fox, who works with the distance runners, attributes Hehir’s disappointing finish in the indoor season to a fall he suffered at a meet at Iowa State on Feb. 15. The fall took a toll on Hehir and he had to miss a few days of practice and never fully recovered.

Hehir came back from the injury less than a week later, but by the time he returned, he wasn’t the same.

Months of training were set back by the week away from the track, and the damage was done.

“I blame his performance at the Atlantic Coast Conference Indoor Championships on him getting hurt more than anything else,” Fox said. “We were on a great roll, physically and emotionally, and the fall caused us to lose a little confidence and a little fitness.

“He was at the top of his game and that one slip just set him back.”

After the injury, Hehir ran relatively disappointing times at the conference indoor championships at season’s end.

He finished fourth place in the 5,000-meter with a time of 14:07.39, and 14th in the 3,000-meter at 8:25.62 — both marks slower than his personal bests.

The junior had set lofty goals at the start of the season, and wasn’t going to be satisfied with anything less than an ACC title.

“Martin’s a tough racer and he continues to run consistently well. While it may seem like it, that finish to indoor this year is not negative,” said Reed Kamyszek, a senior distance runner. “He’s only going to use it to make himself better and ensure he doesn’t get complacent now that we’ve moved outdoors.”

The beginning of the indoor season for Hehir and the beginning of the outdoor are similar in many ways.

While he has yet to set any school records on the outdoor track, he came close when he ran a 13:50.88 in the 5000-meter at the Stanford Invitational — a mere four seconds shy of the school record.

With the disappointing finish to his indoor season this year, Hehir is that much more driven to run well at the ACC Outdoor Championships this weekend and not fall short of his goals.

He knows the team expects him and depends on him to do well, and has to answer to his hardest critic — himself.

“I want to get back out there and redeem myself,” he said. “My finish to indoor season was not my best, and I know I can run my very best this weekend. I plan on it.”

Published on April 16, 2014 at 1:15 am

Contact Liam: lpsull01@syr.edu