SE: Q&A with Nation’s Leading Pentathlete, K-State Track and Field Sophomore Nina Schultz
Feb 14, 2018 | Track & Field, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
Nina Schultz never went to the 2010 Olympics, but she remembers watching the torch be carried through her hometown of New Westminster, a suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia.
In the eight years since, her fondness for the Olympics has only grown. It's developed into more than a childhood dream. It's now a large purpose in her life.
Last Friday, the K-State track and field sophomore's dream-filled dedication paid off at the Texas Tech Shootout.
Schultz posted the nation's top pentathlon score of the season in Lubbock, Texas. Her 4,502 points not only eclipsed her previous best total by more than 150 points, it also stands as the second-best pentathlon score in K-State history and the seventh-highest mark in NCAA indoor history. Not to mention it broke her previous U20 Canadian National Record (4,340), which she set while placing third at last season's NCAA Indoor Championships.
Included in this impressive outing were personal-bests in the high jump (1.82m/5-11.50), long jump (6.39m/20-11.75) and 800-meter run (2:19.79). She also ran her second sub-8.30-second time in the 60-meter hurdles in as many weeks.
With a pentathlon spot locked up for the NCAA Indoor Championships, Schultz will take this weekend off, while some of her teammates will be competing at the Nebraska Tune-Up in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Schultz's focus now lies on the Big 12 Indoor Championships in Ames, Iowa, on February 23-24.
The 19-year-old Canadian and two-time All-American sat down with K-State Sports Extra to discuss her most recent breakout performance, her mental growth and even the Winter Olympics.
SE: What was your reaction to your personal-best score (4,502) in last weekend's pentathlon at Texas Tech? Did it feel like a little bit of a weight was lifted off your shoulders?
NS: Yeah, a little bit. I think I went into the competition pretty relaxed, actually. I pretty much knew, no matter what I did, I would do better than my score in December (4,083), so I wasn't really worried about it. To me, the score was pretty surprising overall, but it was just nice to have some personal bests.
SE: What was surprising about your score?
NS: Long jump was pretty surprising (laughs), especially after the last meet when I faulted on all of my jumps. I just went in with a new mentality, so I was pretty relaxed, but it was just really surprising to hit a personal best by like 20 centimeters.
SE: When you say, "new mentality," what do you mean?
NS: I feel like last week's experience was kind of a wake-up call for me because I feel like I've been putting a little too much pressure on myself, maybe, and not really enjoying the sport as much as I had been. So I feel like over the week I actually matured a lot. Going into the competition, I felt really relaxed mentally.
SE: Did part of the pressure you felt stem from the success you experienced last year, being a two-time All-American?
NS: A little bit, but I don't think it's as much about how I did last year. It's about how I always want to improve each year and do better than I did the year before. It's really just myself putting that pressure on me.
SE: You've been pretty open about your dream of competing in the Summer Olympics someday. With that in mind, as a Canadian track and field athlete, do you get excited about the Winter Olympics going on right now?
NS: Definitely. I really like the Winter Olympics, obviously because I'm from Canada, so I have been watching. It is really exciting to see so many people, especially young people (competing). I mean, a 17-year-old from America (Red Gerard) just won gold in (slopestyle) snowboarding, so that was crazy. It's really cool.
SE: With your Olympic dreams in mind, what kind of effect does seeing the increasing number of young athletes who are succeeding in Seoul, South Korea, right now have on you?
NS: I think seeing young people succeed like that, well it kind of makes me feel old (laughs), but it just makes me look forward to the long career I have ahead of me. Hopefully I can find that kind of success as well.
SE: What would you pick as your favorite Winter Olympic sport?
NS: Probably figure skating. I actually used to figure skate as a kid. I wasn't good or anything. I just did it for fun, but it's really cool to watch how athletic they are, in a different way from track and field obviously, but just seeing them do all those flips in the air and then land on a thin blade is kind of crazy.
SE: By most people's standards, what you accomplished last season was pretty crazy. What lessons from your first collegiate season did you try to bring to this season to take your performance to the next level?
NS: I feel like last year I started off with kind of a hard time, but once I got things going I think I learned that the battle is truly psychological instead of physical. Because we're all out there putting in the work and training, so we have all we need to succeed physically. So this year I've been working hard on my mental strength with Ian (Connole), our sports psychologist. I feel like that's helped me a lot, but there's still a lot to work on in that field, I think.
SE: How has the focus to improve your mental strength translated to more success on the track so far?
NS: This year coming in, my goal for a lot of events was to have more consistency and that really just comes from being confident going into each event and knowing if I've done it before, I can do it again. I think I improved on that a lot. This year, in the (60-meter) hurdles, I've gotten a lot more consistent (four out of six races this season under 8.40 seconds). And in the high jump, I've already jumped over 1.80 three times this indoor season and I only did that three times in total in my freshman year. So I've been seeing lots of improvements.
SE: What type of drills or exercises have you done to work on your mental strength?
NS: We've been working on some breathing exercises, but for specific events, I have a specific focus I try to tell myself before the race or the jump. In the hurdles, I've been really working on staying aggressive. So right before each race, I just try to calm myself and I just tell myself to go out there and be aggressive. Then I just clear my mind and go for it.
SE: At last season's Big 12 Championship meets — indoor and outdoor — you did not compete in the pentathlon or heptathlon, but instead participated in some of your strongest individual events to maximize the amount of points you could collect. Is it tough, knowing you could probably win the pentathlon at the conference meet, to forego it to compete in individual events?
NS: I think I like it better because conference, to me, feels like more of a team event, so it's really nice to be able to try and contribute more points. It's also just fun to get away from the multi events every now and then.
SE: It's your second season working with K-State Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Cliff Rovelto, renowned for his abilities to work with high jumpers and multi-event athletes. Has he changed his approach or coached you any differently this season compared to last year?
NS: In some aspects, yes. I feel like every year he kind of throws in something new that we don't expect. I know the running has been really different compared to the beginning of last year. I feel like he's kind of treating me differently. I have more experience this year, so I feel like he kind of expects more out of me, in a way.
SE: Do you expect more out of yourself?
NS: Yeah, because compared to last year, I've gotten a lot stronger. It's just kind of a mental battle. If I'm confident in myself and I do what I know I can do, I think I'll achieve my goals.
SE: Speaking of goals, what are yours for the rest of the indoor season?
NS: Honestly, I haven't really thought about it because the goal that I set for myself this indoor season, I achieved last week. I hope to improve on that a bit more because I think I definitely can. I have some work to do in the shot put and the 800, but hopefully I can just improve on that at nationals. I think if I do improve on that, I'll be able to place pretty well.
Nina Schultz never went to the 2010 Olympics, but she remembers watching the torch be carried through her hometown of New Westminster, a suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia.
In the eight years since, her fondness for the Olympics has only grown. It's developed into more than a childhood dream. It's now a large purpose in her life.
Last Friday, the K-State track and field sophomore's dream-filled dedication paid off at the Texas Tech Shootout.
Schultz posted the nation's top pentathlon score of the season in Lubbock, Texas. Her 4,502 points not only eclipsed her previous best total by more than 150 points, it also stands as the second-best pentathlon score in K-State history and the seventh-highest mark in NCAA indoor history. Not to mention it broke her previous U20 Canadian National Record (4,340), which she set while placing third at last season's NCAA Indoor Championships.
Included in this impressive outing were personal-bests in the high jump (1.82m/5-11.50), long jump (6.39m/20-11.75) and 800-meter run (2:19.79). She also ran her second sub-8.30-second time in the 60-meter hurdles in as many weeks.
With a pentathlon spot locked up for the NCAA Indoor Championships, Schultz will take this weekend off, while some of her teammates will be competing at the Nebraska Tune-Up in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Schultz's focus now lies on the Big 12 Indoor Championships in Ames, Iowa, on February 23-24.
The 19-year-old Canadian and two-time All-American sat down with K-State Sports Extra to discuss her most recent breakout performance, her mental growth and even the Winter Olympics.
SE: What was your reaction to your personal-best score (4,502) in last weekend's pentathlon at Texas Tech? Did it feel like a little bit of a weight was lifted off your shoulders?
NS: Yeah, a little bit. I think I went into the competition pretty relaxed, actually. I pretty much knew, no matter what I did, I would do better than my score in December (4,083), so I wasn't really worried about it. To me, the score was pretty surprising overall, but it was just nice to have some personal bests.
SE: What was surprising about your score?
NS: Long jump was pretty surprising (laughs), especially after the last meet when I faulted on all of my jumps. I just went in with a new mentality, so I was pretty relaxed, but it was just really surprising to hit a personal best by like 20 centimeters.
SE: When you say, "new mentality," what do you mean?
NS: I feel like last week's experience was kind of a wake-up call for me because I feel like I've been putting a little too much pressure on myself, maybe, and not really enjoying the sport as much as I had been. So I feel like over the week I actually matured a lot. Going into the competition, I felt really relaxed mentally.
SE: Did part of the pressure you felt stem from the success you experienced last year, being a two-time All-American?
NS: A little bit, but I don't think it's as much about how I did last year. It's about how I always want to improve each year and do better than I did the year before. It's really just myself putting that pressure on me.
SE: You've been pretty open about your dream of competing in the Summer Olympics someday. With that in mind, as a Canadian track and field athlete, do you get excited about the Winter Olympics going on right now?
NS: Definitely. I really like the Winter Olympics, obviously because I'm from Canada, so I have been watching. It is really exciting to see so many people, especially young people (competing). I mean, a 17-year-old from America (Red Gerard) just won gold in (slopestyle) snowboarding, so that was crazy. It's really cool.
SE: With your Olympic dreams in mind, what kind of effect does seeing the increasing number of young athletes who are succeeding in Seoul, South Korea, right now have on you?
NS: I think seeing young people succeed like that, well it kind of makes me feel old (laughs), but it just makes me look forward to the long career I have ahead of me. Hopefully I can find that kind of success as well.
SE: What would you pick as your favorite Winter Olympic sport?
NS: Probably figure skating. I actually used to figure skate as a kid. I wasn't good or anything. I just did it for fun, but it's really cool to watch how athletic they are, in a different way from track and field obviously, but just seeing them do all those flips in the air and then land on a thin blade is kind of crazy.
SE: By most people's standards, what you accomplished last season was pretty crazy. What lessons from your first collegiate season did you try to bring to this season to take your performance to the next level?
NS: I feel like last year I started off with kind of a hard time, but once I got things going I think I learned that the battle is truly psychological instead of physical. Because we're all out there putting in the work and training, so we have all we need to succeed physically. So this year I've been working hard on my mental strength with Ian (Connole), our sports psychologist. I feel like that's helped me a lot, but there's still a lot to work on in that field, I think.
SE: How has the focus to improve your mental strength translated to more success on the track so far?
NS: This year coming in, my goal for a lot of events was to have more consistency and that really just comes from being confident going into each event and knowing if I've done it before, I can do it again. I think I improved on that a lot. This year, in the (60-meter) hurdles, I've gotten a lot more consistent (four out of six races this season under 8.40 seconds). And in the high jump, I've already jumped over 1.80 three times this indoor season and I only did that three times in total in my freshman year. So I've been seeing lots of improvements.
SE: What type of drills or exercises have you done to work on your mental strength?
NS: We've been working on some breathing exercises, but for specific events, I have a specific focus I try to tell myself before the race or the jump. In the hurdles, I've been really working on staying aggressive. So right before each race, I just try to calm myself and I just tell myself to go out there and be aggressive. Then I just clear my mind and go for it.
SE: At last season's Big 12 Championship meets — indoor and outdoor — you did not compete in the pentathlon or heptathlon, but instead participated in some of your strongest individual events to maximize the amount of points you could collect. Is it tough, knowing you could probably win the pentathlon at the conference meet, to forego it to compete in individual events?
NS: I think I like it better because conference, to me, feels like more of a team event, so it's really nice to be able to try and contribute more points. It's also just fun to get away from the multi events every now and then.
SE: It's your second season working with K-State Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Cliff Rovelto, renowned for his abilities to work with high jumpers and multi-event athletes. Has he changed his approach or coached you any differently this season compared to last year?
NS: In some aspects, yes. I feel like every year he kind of throws in something new that we don't expect. I know the running has been really different compared to the beginning of last year. I feel like he's kind of treating me differently. I have more experience this year, so I feel like he kind of expects more out of me, in a way.
SE: Do you expect more out of yourself?
NS: Yeah, because compared to last year, I've gotten a lot stronger. It's just kind of a mental battle. If I'm confident in myself and I do what I know I can do, I think I'll achieve my goals.
SE: Speaking of goals, what are yours for the rest of the indoor season?
NS: Honestly, I haven't really thought about it because the goal that I set for myself this indoor season, I achieved last week. I hope to improve on that a bit more because I think I definitely can. I have some work to do in the shot put and the 800, but hopefully I can just improve on that at nationals. I think if I do improve on that, I'll be able to place pretty well.
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