Donovan Robertson - Ohio's Defending D1 300m Hurdle Champion

Donovan Robertson

Junior, Berea 

Personal Bests

Athletic Honors

OHRunners:  Donovan, you burst onto the Ohio High School Track & Field scene as a Freshman, placing 6th in the D1 Boys 300M Hurdles, with a time of 39.40. What were your thoughts when you made it through to the finals? What were your thoughts the day of the race as you began your warm up? As you got into the blocks?

Donovan:   When I went to State as just a freshman, I wasn't too confident in myself or that I could do well at the State meet. My thoughts when I first entered the stadium and then started warming up and finally getting into blocks for the preliminaries, were to "just make it to finals!"  When I did make it to finals, I was extremely proud of myself. I was really satisfied that I had made it to the State meet, and that I made my mark as a freshman.

OHRunners:  Last Spring you returned to State as a Sophomore and won the Boys D1 300m Hurdles, bettering your Freshman time by 2.21 seconds, finishing in 37.19. How would you compare that  experience and run with that of your Freshman year?

Donovan:  My sophomore year was a big change from freshman year. My freshman year I had the mindset of going as far into the season as I could.  In my sophomore year, my mindset completely changed into not only making it to States, but winning it.  The experience was different too, because my freshman year, I had never run in front of 11,000 people,  I was visibly shaken and nervous.  My sophomore year I was more prepared.  I had been there and experienced the meet before, and that helped me to calm myself down and to focus much better than before.

OHRunners:  Last year in addition to winning the 300m Hurdles, you went into the finals of the 110M Hurdles with the second fastest time from the prelims. You were DQ'd, hitting the 7th hurdle.  I'm sure that was a great disappointment for you.  In the 110M Hurdles, just as in all of the sprints, a great start is important, but equally as important is having a clean run, espcially in the finals. What were your thoughts in the blocks? What were your thoughts immediately after your DQ?

Donovan:  In last year's 110m Hurdle final, I hit the 7th hurdle and fell.  I got up afterwards and pushed the next hurdle over before finishing the race, which is what got me disqualified.  A good start is absolutely crucial to any sprint or hurdle race. When I was in the blocks, I was feeling very confident. Having the 2nd best entry time going into finals was a big confidence booster, and I was determined to give it my all.  When I fell, I had no time to think until after the race. When I finally sat down and reflected, it was both a huge blow and a turning point for my career.  I was absolutely demoralized and crushed, and had little motivation for running the 300m hurdles afterwards. But, with the help of my friends and family, I got it together and rebounded in the 300's and won it.  It was a huge lesson for me: Track is as much a mental challenge as a physical one. When you race, you just have to push everything else aside and leave it on the track.

OHRunners:  At New Balance Nationals, in the 110M Hurdles, you placed 14th in the Prelims with a time of 14.21. Your Ohio winning time was 13.76 and this would have placed 3rd in the National finals.  I'm sure that your expectations were greater than your performance.  What did you do after the Ohio State Championships leading up to the Nationals? What were your expectations? You also withdrew from the 400m Hurdles, which may be your best event. Why?

Donovan:    I entered last years New Balance Nationals with the same mindset that I had as a freshman at our Ohio State meet. That was to go as far as I could and just see what I could do.  I have to admit however, that I did enter the meet with much higher expectations than my results.  I was new to the national scene, and I was very thrown off from the size of the competition and atmosphere.  But, just like the Ohio State meet my Freshman year, I hope to return this year more prepared and make a bigger impact.  At New Balance Nationals,  after my 110 hurdle prelims, I felt alot of pain and tugging in my hamstring, so I made the decision to drop out of the 400 hurdles and call it a year.  I felt like I should play it safe and wait until this year to make an impact.

OHRunners:  Before we get into this season, let's go back to some questions about the beginning of your running career. When did you first begin running track?  Did you participate in any other sports prior to settling on Track?

Donovan:  I first began running track in 7th grade, and I ran the 100m dash and 200m hurdles. When I was younger than that, I played everything, from flag football and baseball to basketball and soccer.  I've played soccer since the 2nd grade.

OHRunners:  Do you participate in any other sports at Berea?

Donovan:  I play soccer at Berea High.  It's actually my favorite sport to play and watch.  When I was a freshman,  I was the only freshman to play varsity for most of the season.   I have been voted captain for my senior year.

OHRunners:  What type of running do you do over the summer, primarily as a sprinter, hurdler?

Donovan:  I don't do much training over the summer for Track.  Most of my focus is on soccer and building up my stamina and leg strength.

OHRunners:  What do you do in the Fall to prepare for the Indoor season?

Donovan:  Other than playing soccer, I do not do any other conditioning.  Soccer is a great sport in terms of stamina and constant sprinting - speed work.  After the soccer season, I'm in solid shape and ready for the indoor season.

OHRunners:  The weather in Northern Ohio is not the best in the winter. Where do you practice?

Donovan:  In the winter I run on a very small, 120m track that my school has.  It is not very good for sprint workouts, but it is indoors and I  use it and the time to continue to build up my stamina for the 400m.

OHRunners:  One of your closest rivals is Senior Elijah Owens from Shaker Heights. He just got you in the 60M Hurdles at the Indoor Championships in a very close finish. You had a very good preliminary time of 7.93. In the finals you were only separated by .01 seconds, finishing in 8.04. How important is the start in the 60M Hurdles?

Donovan:  That race was a perfect example of just how important the start of a hurdle race is.  I messed up my start for the finals of the indoor state meet, and Elijah Owens took advantage of it.  He is an exceptional athlete, and I enjoyed competing with him this past winter season.

OHRunners:  What do you do to practice starts for your races? How much time do you spend on practicing your starts? What type of drills do you do?

Donovan:  I do not do much to practice my starts pre-race. I am a superstitious person when it comes to Track, and I believe that if I practice my start too much just before a race, something will go wrong. However, at practice that is all I work on, especially in the outdoor season.  During my sophomore year, my coaches and I realized that my start was the section of my race that I needed to work on the most, so we worked on that vigorously this year.

OHRunners:  Indoors you also ran a fine 400M, finishing 3rd in a time of 49.70. Have you entertained thoughts of concentrating on the 400, or will you keep your main focus on the hurdles?

Donovan:  I have entertained some thoughts on competing in the 400 more often.  I compete in the 4x4 in the outdoor season often, and my best split time is a 47.5, so I feel that I would do very well in the race.  But,  the 400 dash is too close to the 300 hurdles on a normal event schedule, and I always choose to focus on the hurdle races instead.

OHRunners:  Donovan, take us through a 110m hurdle race. Start to finish. e.g coming out of the blocks, sprinting to the first hurdle, over the first hurdle, sprinting between the hurdles, 3-step?, finishing strong 6-8 steps? What are your thoughts as you get in the blocks and throughout the race

Donovan:  When the gun goes off in the 110 hurdles, my main focus is to stay low and to be the first man to the first hurdle by pushing hard off the blocks and taking large steps. After clearing the first hurdle, I focus on having the best form that I can. My arms are close to my body, I lean forward over every hurdle, and I snap my lead leg down and bring my trail leg over as fast as I can.  The 3-step comes naturally to me in this race, so I dont really think about it. When I am over the last hurdle, I sprint the last 10 meters as hard as I can and lean over the line.  As I get into the blocks prior to the race, I lose all thoughts of the past day, block everything non-race-related out of my head, and focus on the upcoming race. During the race, my mind is flooded with the little details, like keeping my arms tight to my body. I analyze myself when I clear every hurdle, constantly improving until I am my fastest and cleanest at the end of the race.

OHRunners:  Same for a 300m race. Do you switch legs? How important is this?

Donovan:  I treat the 300 the same ways as the 110.  I focus only on the upcoming race and how I'm going to run it.  I do not switch legs in this race, which is a crucial factor. This means that I must line up and count my steps correctly for every hurdle so that I have my right leg lead everytime. During the race, I am not analyzing myself as much as in the 110 hurdles, but I do have thoughts racing around in my mind just as much, reminding myself to hug the inside of the lane around the turn and to keep my steps consistent.

OHRunners:  Take me through a typical workout  during the season? Monday - Friday with a race on Saturday. Be specific about each practice. Include warm up and warm down. Amount of time spent on practicing starts, hurdle technique, intervals with times. In other words, what is a typical week like?

Donovan:  Warmups and Cooldowns are the same everyday.  Warmups include a half mile jog followed by dynamic stretches.  After that, we do some yoga stretches and hurdle stretches. In our cooldown, we jog another half mile, then do yoga stretches, and then do leg hangs. Leg hangs are important to me because they relaxe my entire body.  Our coach makes us stay silent during the entire exercise, which relaxes and calms us.  Mondays is always a hard workout day. I normally do endurance/ middle distance training. This consists of 300s, 400s, 500s, and 600s, as well as ladder workouts which involve many of those distances at the same pace. These workouts are important because they build up my breathing, lactic acid tolerance, and pacing. On Tuesdays, workouts are not as intense. Often times, I just focus on plyometrics, like sleds and parachutes, and blockwork. These workouts are immensely important because they build up my strength and effectiveness at the beginning of a race, which is normally the weakest part of my races. On Wednesdays, we typically have dual meets against other teams, but when we don't, we run a hard workout similar to what we do on Mondays. On Thursdays, the workout is like Tuesdays. Fridays are recovery days, meaning that we hardly do anything more than a mile jog. This gives our bodies a chance to recover for the running on Saturdays.

OHRunners:  What is your favorite race? Why?

Donovan:  My favorite race is a tie between the 110 hurdles and the 200m dash. The 110 hurdles are the most technical race in the business. If you make a little mistake, like clipping a hurdle, it can cost you valuable time.  I have a perfectionist personality, so this kind of race appeals to me very much. I have never run a clean, perfect hurdle race, so I'm always striving to have one. The 200m dash is a very intense race and that  is why I enjoy it so much.  Instead of being a techncial race, it is a race that is not so much about who has better form, but about who is simply the fastest.  Form is very important in this race too, of course, but the appeal here is the fastest of the fast competing. I cannot wait to compete in a situation like this at States.

OHRunners:  What is your least favorite race? Why?

Donovan:  My least favorite race is the 800m. I do not race it very often, but when I do I regret it very much!  I run this race a couple times a year at the beginning of the season to build up my endurance.  I am built to sprint, and the 800 is not a good fit for me.  It is hard for me to maintain a slower pace as I am automatically wanting to start going faster, and I struggle with myself to keep my pace steady. After the race, my body always aches because it was not sprinting like it wanted to. I know this may sound silly, but that is how I feel during and after the 800 dash.

OHRunners:  How do you view yourself as an athlete? What is your motivation?

Donovan:  As an athlete, I view myself as someone who has been gifted with the ability to sprint, and should use it as much as I can. That being said, I enjoy Track purely because of the sport and the competition. I love meeting new people, seeing how I stack up against other runners, and putting my all into every race.  My motivation at first was to do well enough to get some money for college becuase education after high school is extremely important.  It's my number 1 priority.  Right now however,  my motivation is to be the best I can be in the sprints, and to see just how far in the sport I can go.  Wether it is becoming an All-American in college, or perhaps even running in the olympics.  The olympics has always been a dream of mine.

OHRunners:  As defending  State champion in the 300m Hurdles, what are your expectations for this year in the 300 and the 110?

Donovan:  My expectation this year as a returning champion is first, to become the 110h State champion, and then to defend my 300h title.  I am also doing very well in the 100m and 200m this Spring, so I will do my best to make it to States and on the podium in those events as well.

OHRunners:  Thanks Donovan.  We'll be watching for you in Districts and Regionals and will look forward to watching you at State.