(Photo by Albert Wieringa)
Astronaut's Tristan Schultheis has only been high jumping for one year. One of his coaches told him to try the event, he did what he calls, "pretty good", and the rest is history. He cleared 6'5 in his second meet ever at the Carl Friedland Invitational in Orlando and ended the season undefeated in ten meets including the 2A state championship where he cleared a personal best of 6'10". He says his success in 2015 motivated him for the future.
"Yes, that motivated me. Last year was my first year so nobody expected me to win state. This year I'm coming in as the best and everyone is expecting me to do better and win it again so that made me determined to be even better.I want to be the best I can be, I don't like losing. So every week i knew I could do better than the last meet."
"I came in at 6"0" to make sure my steps and everything were right. I cleared all my attempts on the first try, 6'0", 6'2", 6'4", 6'6", 6'8", 6,10".
Then came the attempts at 7'0" and 7"2' which would be a new personal best and state leader. Nailed them.
"I saw after last week someone jumped 7 feet something, a lot more had gone above 6' 10 " and I was only like 5th in the nation. I just wanted to be ranked #1 again so I think that gave me that boost to get up to it. I made every height on the first try until I got up to 7'4". When I got up to 6'8" and was clearing it by 7 inches every time it gave me more confidence and when I heard everyone in the stands start cheering I knew I made it!"
His mark of 7'2" is the best in Florida and in the country for 2016 and ranks as the US#2 (tie) ALL-TIME in the Sunshine State, and one of the 50 best jumps ever in the nation.
The goals are to reach even higher breaking both state and national records. He noted that his attempt at 7'4" was close and definitely makeable adding that needed to work on kicking his legs up at the end. Schultheis who also competes in the hurdles says he definitely wants to go to college for track and field.
"I love track that's something I want to do. Everyone was trying to say it would be better to go to a smaller division school to jump because 6'10 wouldn't compete in Division 1, so that gave me the drive to get over the 7 foot mark."
What's he looking for in a school?
"I'm looking for somewhere that has what I'm wanting to study and that has a coach that can help me with technique since I haven't had much of that. They'd get an athlete ready to work get better at everything I do and determined to be the best."
More Coverage
- Tristan's Athlete Profile
- 2016 National Boys High Jump Rankings
- 2016 Florida Boys High Jump Rankings
- All-Time Florida Boys High Jump Rankings