Clifton Mahoney's "Unique" Leadership

"Just one more, coach."

One of the Irish's senior hurdlers, Clifton Mahoney, has grown on the the track not only physically, but mentally.

"He's matured a lot over the past four years," hurdler coach, Broderick Fitch says. "He always was dedicated to his work, he was squirrelly at times when I first met him, but has always been hard working and willing to go out of his comfort zone."

Mahoney had a rough outing last year in the 300m hurdles, at the Metro League Prelims. He had gotten off to a strong start, but after the fourth and fifth hurdle, he had collided with several before finishing the race with a personal record of 46.46 seconds.

Though he recognizes it was a personal record, Mahoney has been working this off-season with the Metro Championships in mind.

"Cliff has been working hard over these ten months, him shaving two seconds off his personal record shows tremendous growth," coach Fitch says.

Mahoney has also expanded his leadership skills by helping the younger guys in a unique way.

"I try to set the example for the younger guys, I encourage them through the workouts, so that they do the same for the younger guys when they're seniors," Mahoney says.

"Clifton hangs back with the younger guys during drills as well," "making sure they know what and how to do the drills properly and give them a better understanding of what we're working on," coach Fitch says. "Trust has been the biggest thing between us, he does a good job of helping me coach up guys."

Along with his growth in leadership ability, coach Fitch is also looking forward to Mahoney is competing in other ways besides his main event, the 110m hurdles.

"He'll be good in the triple and long jump, also the 200m sprint and probably get some time with the 300m hurdles."

So, not only has Mahoney grown to be one of the most trusted guys on the track, but his mentality towards his craft has shifted him into a guy to look out for this spring.