In the preliminary build-up for the NCAA national championships, New Westminster’s Nina Schultz picked up another honour for her freshman achievements at Kansas State.
The 18-year-old track and field star was voted the Big 12’s Outstanding Freshman of the Year, after helping lead the KSU Wildcats to its first conference title since 2002.
The New West Spartans track team member put an exclamation mark to her season at the Big 12 championships last month, establishing a new individual record in women’s high jump with a personal-best clearance of 1.82 metres. She also collected a PB in javelin (47.67m), while securing strong results in long jump, 100m hurdles and 4x400m relay as the high point scorer of the meet.
Personal bests were a theme for the freshman, having broken a number of marks more than once during her first season on the NCAA circuit. Earlier in the year, she set a new Canadian under-20 national standard and won her first collegiate heptathlon with a score of 6,021 points – the fourth-best total in team history. It earned her the Big-12 Athlete of the Week award.
Schultz became the first KS athlete to qualify for the national championships as a frontrunner in the heptathlon.
She is currently ranked fourth in the NCAA, with the nationals going next week in Oregon.
