There’s no stopping Nina Schultz once she puts her mind to something.
The New Westminster native demonstrated that neither elite competition nor a hotter spotlight can bump her off course.
Schultz posted the best score for women’s heptathlon at the Jim Click Combined Events in Tucson, Ariz., and established a new Canadian under-20 national record in the process.
All this and a freshman, too.
With the fourth-best point total in Kansas State University program history – 6,021 points over seven events – the 18-year-old continues to climb the charts, both at the NCAA and international levels.
“I was really happy getting over 6,000 points in my first (outdoor) meet, it’s a really big mark for young heptathloners,” Schultz said Thursday in an interview with the Record.
“This season my goal going in was to go over 6,000, so I wasn’t really thinking about it in my first meet… Once I saw my score after the first day I knew I had a shot and I wanted to go for it.”
Her point total was the second-best mark in Div. 1 competition this season, behind Arkansas’s Taliyah Brooks’s 6,075, and the third-best score in the world, with Erica Bougard’s 6,246 setting the standard.
On the first day of competition, the New Westminster Secondary grad set three personal bests: in the 100-metre hurdles (13.83), the shot put (12.19m) and 200m dash (24.43). Schultz also cleared 1.75m in the high jump, winning the event by 11 centimetres over her nearest rival. All told, she finished first in three of four events, and second in the shot put.
On the second day, the personal bests kept coming as the New West Spartans-trained athlete finished the competition with new marks in the long jump (6.04m), javelin (46.09m) and 800m (2:18.75).
The 800m time was the seventh-quickest in KSU program history, and provided her with the final tally which underscored her dominance in the heptathlon, finishing 642 points ahead of her nearest rival.
Of all the personal bests, it was the 200m, which was the final event on the first day, which stood out in the athlete’s mind.
“I definitely think the 200m was the most surprising,” she noted. “I did not expect that. I think with the level of coaching and training we do here, it’s kind of opened a lot of possibilities.”
Recording her personal bests is best done in pencil or chalk – anything that can be erased and replaced for the next new mark. Having crossed the 6,000-point barrier in just the first outdoor meet of the season, Schultz now has new targets to shoot for, and bigger meets to prepare for.
“I’m now aiming to get over 6,100 (points) this season. I’d really like to do that by the end of the year and improve on some of my personal bests, because I think they weren’t all as smooth as I’d like.”
Shedding past bests like wet socks, Schultz shattered her own previous point total of 5,639, which she set in Poland at the World junior championships a year ago. She also mothballed the old Canadian mark of 5,774, set by Nicole Oudenaarden in 2013, and now stands second in the u20 world rankings.
As a first-year university student with a heavy training schedule, it’s not surprising that the toughest challenge is juggling the higher academic responsibilities.
“The biggest obstacle is just school in general, the classroom stuff,” said Schultz. “I’ve adjusted fairly well to the training we do, and I’ve got great teammates who help me. But it’s been difficult at times balancing school and training.”
Coming off an indoor season where she charted new personal bests and set the tone for the outdoor success, Schultz appreciates the situation she's in. Moving from the Lower Mainland, where there is little to no indoor access, to Kansas State and its high tech indoor facility, has been a boon, she said.
“This was my first full indoor season so it was different but it was cool. I hadn’t done many indoor meets before and to have the success was a great start.”
With still a month of meets left on the slate before the NCAA regionals, Schultz isn’t looking too far ahead. The NCAA championships in Oregon at the end of May are the major focal point. But she has a potential itinerary in mind as well, which could see her competing in Peru this summer at the World u20 championships.
“I always want to improve, and I guess that’s something that I got from my family members. There’s always something to push for.”
