The transition to university
track star is well on its way for New Westminster’s Nina Schultz.
The 18-year-old freshman at Kansas State University launched her indoor collegiate track career with a couple of strong showings, suitably highlighted by a string of personal bests.
At last week’s DeLoss Dodds Invitational in Manhattan, Kan., the former Hyack led a standout team performance in the pentathlon, capturing top honours with 4,042 points, nearly 400 more points than her nearest rival.
With that, the first-year university student moved into ninth place on Kansas State’s all-time event list.
To achieve that, Schultz locked up the best showings in the 60-metre hurdles, the high jump, long jump and shot put.
She won the hurdles race with a time of 8.60 seconds, the high jump with a height of 1.78m, long jump, reaching 5.65m, and shot put, with a throw of 11.11m. Schultz also placed fourth in the 800m, with a time of 34.26.
All were indoor personal bests.
It only took her second event to leapfrog her into the school’s record books, as her high jump mark put her into a tie for seventh place in all-time pentathlon results.
On the next day, she finished third in the women’s 60-metre hurdles, with an indoor personal best of 8.49 seconds, just a split second back of teammate and second-place finisher Ariel Orkorie.
Schultz’s time also put her seventh in the Wildcats’ all-time list.
A week earlier at the Bill Easton Classic in Lawrence, Kan., the reigning B.C. high school hept-athlon champion and Canadian high jump youth record holder topped the 60m hurdles and finished third in high jump – each time setting a temporary personal best along the way.
