MANHATTAN, Kan. – Coming off a record-setting victory in the pentathlon at the Sevigne Husker Invitational, Kansas State freshman Nina Schultz has been named Big 12 Athlete of the Week, the conference office announced on Wednesday.

Schultz tallied the third-highest point total in program history (4,271) to become K-State’s 12th female to earn Indoor Athlete of the Week honors in the Big 12 era and the first since Akela Jones was named to the award on Jan. 27, 2016. This is the first time Schultz has won the award in her career.

“A score like that for a true freshman, let alone a kid that is 18 years old, is pretty good,” Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Cliff Rovelto said about Schultz’s performance at the Sevigne Husker Invitational. “We knew she was pretty good, but she might be­­­ better than what we thought she was.”

Schultz got off to a hot start in the pentathlon, using a time of 8.44 in the 60 meter hurdles to claim first place in the event as well as in her heat and move to third on the school’s all-time list in the pentathlon 60-meter hurdles. Leading the competition heading into the high jump, the freshman posted a jump of 1.74m/5-08.50 to finish second place with 903 points, dropping her to second overall in the pentathlon with 1,933 points.

The New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada, native then posted a huge, personal-best toss of 12.11m/39-08.75 in the shot put to claim fourth place in the event for 668 points, moving her back into first place in the pentathlon. The mark moved her to eighth on the school’s all-time list in pentathlon shot put.

The freshman posted her second, personal-best in a row in the pentathlon long jump, using a leap of 5.99m/19-08, a mark that moves her to fifth on the school’s all-time pentathlon list, to win the long jump and keep hold of first place heading into the final event.

Schultz closed out the pentathlon with an exclamation point, running a personal best time of 2:19.95 in the 800-meter run, a time good for ninth on the school’s all-time list, to win the entire competition with a final score of 4,271 points. Her score is currently the top mark in the Big 12, the third-best mark in Division I this season and is the third-best mark in the pentathlon on the school’s all-time list behind K-State legends Jones and Austra Skujyte.

K-State returns to action on Friday as the Wildcats will split to go to two different meets. The majority of the team will head to Ames, Iowa, for the Iowa State Classic, while the Wildcats’ horizontal jumpers will travel to Fayetteville, Arkansas, for the Tyson Invitational.

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