SLIPPERY ROCK — It helps to be fearless when you run the hurdles.

Fearlessness is an even more important trait when you are 5-feet tall and run the hurdles.

“Five feet, one-half inch,” says Brady Dalton.

When Dalton was a freshman, the last event she thought she would ever run for the Slippery Rock High girls track and field team was the 100- and 300-meter hurdles.

Her diminutive frame seemed to preclude her from the event.

But Slippery Rock coach Tom Meling saw the explosiveness in Dalton that led him to believe she not only could run the challenging events usually reserved from taller athletes, but that she could flourish in them.

“No other coach would have looked at me and seen a hurdler,” Dalton said. “Other coaches would have said it’s not possible, but he saw something in me and made me believe in myself.”

As a freshman, Dalton needed some convincing, but she did well enough to qualify for the District 10 meet.

She was hooked.

Now as a senior, Dalton is one of the best hurdlers in the state.

Dalton is nearly a second faster than any other hurdler in the Butler County area in the 100 hurdles with a season-best time of 15.34 seconds.

She’s been even better in the 300 hurdles, where she is nearly three seconds faster than her closest competitor at 46.04 seconds.

Meling said the key to Dalton’s success is her powerful lower body.

“Her leg strength is what sets her apart,” Meling said. “There is no hang time over the hurdle. If you watch her from behind, it looks like her foot is going to hit the hurdle, but it just glides right over.

“The only comparison is to (former Slippery Rock hurdle standout Angie Shaffer),” Meling added. “She was 5-3, so a little taller, but also powerful and courageous.”

Dalton has her sights set on Shaffer’s 100 hurdle record time of 14.94.

“It would be amazing,” Dalton said.

Meling thinks it will only be a matter of time this season before Dalton gets it.

“She can run a 14.5, especially when she gets in meets where she is pushed,” Meling said.

Dalton is looking forward to competing at the Butler Invitational Friday.

The competition there in the hurdle events should be fierce and Dalton sees it as a big litmus test for her.

“It’ll be a big meet,” Dalton said. “It’s really exciting to have really fast people to race against. I love dual meets, but in some of them you really don’t have someone pushing you to run that fast.”

Dalton pushes herself.

She is dedicated in the weight room and is also very in tune with the technical aspect of the hurdles.

“Other hurdlers can makes mistakes and recover because of their height,” Dalton said. “I don’t have that luxury. I have to be precise.”

And fearless.

Dalton has hit a few hurdles in her time, but because of her exceptional balance honed during her days as a gymnast and “my low center of gravity,” she says, she can usually stay on her feet.

“The key is to not be afraid,” she said. “You’re gonna fall. You have to ignore that.”

Dalton, who will attend Indiana (Pa.) University in the fall to major in nursing and run track, also tries to ignore getting too caught up in times.

She has a quote she recites to herself before each race to nail that point home.

“‘You can’t focus on results, but focus on the action that produces the results,’” Dalton said. “I try to focus on what I have to do to run a good race.”