SE: New Zealand Decathlete Aaron Booth Getting Comfortable, Confident in First Season at K-State
May 04, 2018 | Track & Field, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
K-State track and field sophomore Aaron Booth's first competition as a Wildcat was unlike any other he had experienced before.
Last month's Jim Click Shootout in Tucson, Arizona, where Booth won the decathlon with the nation's 18th-best total (7,397), was the first meet he could remember where at least one of his parents was not on hand to watch in person.
Both of Booth's parents and his sister, Natalie, were back home in Auckland, New Zealand, following along on the meet's live results page. After each event, he would message them on Facebook. After each day, he would Facetime them.
"It was good to just like hear what they had to say about how I was doing and just hear a familiar voice," said Booth, in his first season at K-State. "My mom, dad and sister traveled to every meet (growing up). We were at (Australia) two or three times a year and they were always there. They've been to Korea to watch me. They've been to Taipei (in Taiwan) to watch me. They always make an effort to come out, so it was weird not having them there."
Nearly 8,000 miles away from home, Booth's K-State debut was another example of the many adjustments he's has dealt with in his transition to life in the United States.
When he left New Zealand in January, temperatures were in the upper 70s. Booth arrived in Kansas to snow and temperatures around "minus-18 degrees Celsius," he said, about zero degrees Fahrenheit.
To top it off, he caught the flu in his first two weeks here and was recovering from an injury that prevented him from fully training right away.
"It made it hard to settle in, not being able to train and not have a consistent routine," he said. "I like to have some sort of routine, but because I couldn't train it was hard to fit in with what was going on."
None of it was how he pictured starting his collegiate career. Then again, there was a time not too long ago where he never planned to pursue a college career in the United States.
Booth's plans changed when his personal coach in New Zealand moved to the United States in 2016. At this point, Booth had eclipsed the 7,000 mark in the decathlon and was moving his name up New Zealand's ranks for all-time decathlon scores.
Before leaving, his coach had suggested looking into competing collegiately in the United States. Booth, still unsure of his options, discovered one possibility while at the World University Games in Taiwan last August: K-State.
During his third-place finish in Taiwan that included a personal-best score of 7,523 points — a total that would rank 14thnationally right now — Booth met Reinis Kregers, a former K-State decathlete who earned All-America honors in 2014.
"We got to talking and he mentioned that he had been to K-State," Booth said, "and he asked if I had heard of it."
Booth had not. But a day or two later, he received an email from K-State Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Cliff Rovelto about coming to compete for the Wildcats.
The offer was intriguing, but Booth sat on the fence about it for a few months. He weighed the cons of being so far away from home and basically restarting his college education with the pros of competing against some of the best in the world under the tutelage of Rovelto, a renowned multi-events coach.
Eventually, he came to the conclusion that "it was the right move" for his future.
"It took a little bit of time to realize it was actually happening," he said, "but it's been good."
Given the circumstances, Booth said he was pleased with his decathlon score in early April. He was not sharp in nearly all of his 10 events, yet he was close to many of his personal bests.
"I was happy with how everything went," he said. "Everything was just below a P.B., and I'm only getting started, so it's promising going forward to Big 12s and hopefully nationals."
Booth has since set collegiate personal bests in the discus, 110-meter hurdles and pole vault. All are positive signs for the New Zealander who will try to improve his national decathlon standing at next week's Big 12 Championship. He currently stands in 18thin the NCAA, with the top-24 individuals qualifying for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon, where his family plans to travel if he qualifies.
"That would be good to have them on this side of the world," Booth said. "I think it's there if training keeps going well."
K-State will also host the Ward Haylett Invitational on Saturday, a final tune-up for many Wildcats before next week's conference meet.
K-State track and field sophomore Aaron Booth's first competition as a Wildcat was unlike any other he had experienced before.
Last month's Jim Click Shootout in Tucson, Arizona, where Booth won the decathlon with the nation's 18th-best total (7,397), was the first meet he could remember where at least one of his parents was not on hand to watch in person.
Both of Booth's parents and his sister, Natalie, were back home in Auckland, New Zealand, following along on the meet's live results page. After each event, he would message them on Facebook. After each day, he would Facetime them.
"It was good to just like hear what they had to say about how I was doing and just hear a familiar voice," said Booth, in his first season at K-State. "My mom, dad and sister traveled to every meet (growing up). We were at (Australia) two or three times a year and they were always there. They've been to Korea to watch me. They've been to Taipei (in Taiwan) to watch me. They always make an effort to come out, so it was weird not having them there."
Nearly 8,000 miles away from home, Booth's K-State debut was another example of the many adjustments he's has dealt with in his transition to life in the United States.
When he left New Zealand in January, temperatures were in the upper 70s. Booth arrived in Kansas to snow and temperatures around "minus-18 degrees Celsius," he said, about zero degrees Fahrenheit.
To top it off, he caught the flu in his first two weeks here and was recovering from an injury that prevented him from fully training right away.
"It made it hard to settle in, not being able to train and not have a consistent routine," he said. "I like to have some sort of routine, but because I couldn't train it was hard to fit in with what was going on."
None of it was how he pictured starting his collegiate career. Then again, there was a time not too long ago where he never planned to pursue a college career in the United States.
Booth's plans changed when his personal coach in New Zealand moved to the United States in 2016. At this point, Booth had eclipsed the 7,000 mark in the decathlon and was moving his name up New Zealand's ranks for all-time decathlon scores.
Before leaving, his coach had suggested looking into competing collegiately in the United States. Booth, still unsure of his options, discovered one possibility while at the World University Games in Taiwan last August: K-State.
During his third-place finish in Taiwan that included a personal-best score of 7,523 points — a total that would rank 14thnationally right now — Booth met Reinis Kregers, a former K-State decathlete who earned All-America honors in 2014.
"We got to talking and he mentioned that he had been to K-State," Booth said, "and he asked if I had heard of it."
Booth had not. But a day or two later, he received an email from K-State Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Cliff Rovelto about coming to compete for the Wildcats.
The offer was intriguing, but Booth sat on the fence about it for a few months. He weighed the cons of being so far away from home and basically restarting his college education with the pros of competing against some of the best in the world under the tutelage of Rovelto, a renowned multi-events coach.
Eventually, he came to the conclusion that "it was the right move" for his future.
"It took a little bit of time to realize it was actually happening," he said, "but it's been good."
Given the circumstances, Booth said he was pleased with his decathlon score in early April. He was not sharp in nearly all of his 10 events, yet he was close to many of his personal bests.
"I was happy with how everything went," he said. "Everything was just below a P.B., and I'm only getting started, so it's promising going forward to Big 12s and hopefully nationals."
Booth has since set collegiate personal bests in the discus, 110-meter hurdles and pole vault. All are positive signs for the New Zealander who will try to improve his national decathlon standing at next week's Big 12 Championship. He currently stands in 18thin the NCAA, with the top-24 individuals qualifying for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon, where his family plans to travel if he qualifies.
"That would be good to have them on this side of the world," Booth said. "I think it's there if training keeps going well."
K-State will also host the Ward Haylett Invitational on Saturday, a final tune-up for many Wildcats before next week's conference meet.
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