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Improving by leaps and bounds
Miami high jumper grabs an at-large bid to nationals
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Miami University junior Kristina Bolterstein hopes to make some noise when she competes in the high jump at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships this week in Sacramento, Calif.
Bolterstein can only hope it will be as loud as the noise she made when she learned she had qualified for the meet.
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"I found out on (May 29) when I was at work," said Bolterstein, who majors in zoology and environmental sciences and is doing summer research on a species of plankton.
"My coach called me and told me to check the results," she said. "I screamed and scared everybody in Pearson Hall."
Bolterstein, a native of Middleburg, earned an at-large bid based on her school-record leap of 5 feet, 103/4 inches at the Stan Lyons Invitational on April 28.
The high jump competition, which consists of 28 athletes, will begin with qualifying sessions at the Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex on Wednesday afternoon. The finals are scheduled for Friday afternoon.
"I definitely want to make the finals, which is the top eight," Bolterstein said. "I want to be an all-American."
She also said she wants to work, one day, for the Environmental Protection Agency or one of the park services. But Bolterstein might not want her athletic career to end with her college diploma.
"I'm actually considering competing professionally for a while," she said.
Bolterstein began competing in track when she was in the third grade, and before long she began to specialize in the long jump.
"It was fun, and everything's more fun if you're good at it," she said. "I like it because it's different. It's kind of a gymnastics event, and I had taken gymnastics when I was younger. I've always been very athletic."
The daughter of Joseph and Nancy Bolterstein finished third in the high jump in the Division I state meet as a freshman at Midpark High School and became an Ohio state champion as a senior.
She broke the Miami indoor record earlier this year with a jump of 6-11/2 and qualified for the indoor nationals, where she finished 17th. She is the two-time defending Mid-American Conference indoor champion and was runner-up at this year's MAC outdoor meet.
Bolterstein is the eighth Miami athlete in the last five years to qualify for the outdoor nationals.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197 or pconrad@coxohio.com.
