A year ago, Nina Schultz took the NCAA by storm.
To follow it up, the New Westminster native is ready to make it a super sophomore season.
The new year got off to a great start, as the Kansas State University athlete posted a pair of strong showings in the first two meets of the indoor track season.
Schultz led her team to the title at the KU-KSU-WSU Invitational last weekend, a three-school dual meet with in-state rivals Kansas and Wichita State.
Schultz won both of her events – the high jump and 60-metre hurdles – to capture the meet’s high point award. She topped the hurdles race with a time of 8.35 seconds, edging teammate Ariel Okorie, who finished second with a mark of 8.56.
In the high jump, the New West secondary alumna peaked at 1.72 metres.
Her goal this year is to continue the momentum she set last season, where she reeled off a number of personal bests and set a new Canadian under-20 women’s total in the eight-event discipline.
“Just improving every year is my goal, I don’t really worry too much about placing,” Schultz told the K-State website. “I just feel that if I improve and compete like I know how I can compete, my results will place me where I hope I can be placed. … We had some really good results, I think. It’s always fun to compete together as a team because I feel that can motivate us to do better.”
Two weeks ago at the Wildcat Invitational, the New West Spartan product helped her squad take the top prize, winning her long jump event, the women’s 60m hurdles and running the third leg of K-State’s champion 4x400m relay team, nearly setting a meet record in the process.
Schultz’s performance was a carry-over from her freshman season, which saw the 18-year-old earn a heptathlon first team All-American honour as runner-up at the NCAA championships.
The Wildcats enter the new season ranked 18th in a poll of the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
Earlier, Schultz was among 48 athletes and para-athletes selected to represent Canada at the 2018 Commonwealth Games this April in Australia.
