In addition to heptathlon, German talent also scheduled to compete in high jump and long jump finals, trying to become first Wolfpack female athlete to earn All-America first-team honors since 2006

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Nicola Ader won’t have much spare time to appreciate the magnitude of her potential achievements during her debut at the NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Championships, but that’s what happens when you’re the busiest female athlete expected to compete in Austin, Texas.

The Nevada sophomore is the only women’s heptathlete among the 24 entries also scheduled to compete in two individual finals, the high jump and long jump.

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That will make the Affolterbach, Germany native the only female athlete to participate over three days at the championship meet, scheduled to squeeze in nine competitions along with rest, recovery, nutrition, stretching and warmups, all in less than 48 hours.

“I already looked up the schedule and definitely want to do all nine events,” said Ader, who is scheduled to compete June 8 in the open high jump along with the final three events of the heptathlon in less than six hours.

“We’ll see how it goes, but I’m so excited.”

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Ader arrived in Sacramento at the West Regionals having already qualified for the national heptathlon finals, placing ninth April 17-18 with 5,590 at the Bryan Clay Invitational at Azusa Pacific University, which ranked her 17th in the country.

By the end of the first day of regional competition May 23, Ader had added two more challenges to an already demanding championship schedule, easily qualifying for the high jump by clearing 5-10.75 (1.80m) on her first try, before producing a dramatic final attempt of 20-5.75 (6.24m) in the long jump to place seventh and advance as well.

“I knew I’m going to Austin either way. I saw the (long jump) marks and I knew I needed to only jump a little bit over 6 meters, so I was like, ‘I don’t want to give away this chance and I really want to make it.’ It’s unbelievable,” Ader said. “I was really nervous before my last jump. I was literally not looking at my mark and just looking at the place and I kept saying to myself, ‘I just want to make it, I just want to make it.’ So it was a big relief when I got it.”

Mississippi State graduate Erica Bougard was the last female athlete to compete in the heptathlon, high jump and long jump at the same Division 1 championship meet in 2016. She took second in the heptathlon, fifth in the high jump and 12th in the long jump.

The only female athlete in Division 1 history to earn All-America first-team honors by making the podium in all three in the same meet is George Mason graduate Diane Guthrie-Gresham, who won the heptathlon, took second in the long jump and fourth in the high jump in 1995.

“I set this goal (before regionals) because I knew I had these two more competitions and I really wanted to make it. I looked up the marks from the past years and I said, ‘I can do that,’” Ader said. “I had a really positive feeling about it and so I decided that I’m not going to come (to Sacramento) just to compete and have fun, I was going to be all in. If I compete, I want to go and compete like never before and I came (to Sacramento) to qualify in all of them.”

Ader won’t be the only the heptathlete competing in additional finals, with UC Santa Barbara senior Hope Bender also expected to participate in the long jump Thursday and Texas A&M sophomore Tyra Gittens entered in the high jump final Saturday.

Bender had plenty of admiration for what Ader is attempting to accomplish.

“Being able to qualify for one event in addition to the (heptathlon) is amazing, but to make it in two is really impressive,” Bender said. “Having the long jump on the schedule before the heptathlon starts is nice because that’s the only thing on the schedule that day. Trying to do the open high jump before the 800 in the heptathlon is taking on a lot, but hopefully she’ll have enough energy left at that point to pull it off.”

Ader isn’t just motivated by the challenging schedule, but also inspired to make history for Nevada, which hasn’t celebrated a female athlete earning All-America first-team recognition in any event since Caira Hane placed eighth in the hammer throw 2006.

If Ader is able to place in the top eight in either the high jump or long jump, she would become the first Nevada female athlete to earn All-America first-team honors in either event. The Wolfpack has only had one male athlete in each event receive All-America recognition in program history, with Otis Burrell winning the high jump in 1966 and Bob Ritchie placing seventh in the long jump in 1960.

And after Nicole Wadden just missed making the heptathlon podium with a ninth-place national finish in 2017, Ader is also attempting to become the first Wolfpack standout to achieve All-America first-team recognition in that competition since Ali McKnight did so in consecutive years in 1994-95.

There is added inspiration for Ader as well after finishing in a four-way tie for ninth place in the high jump with a 5-9.25 (1.76m) clearance at the Division 1 indoor high jump final March 9 in Birmingham, Ala.

“Jumping clean is really important, especially when it comes to a competition like that. Sometimes it’s just that little bit that decides if you make it or you don’t make it, so that is really important to me,” Ader said. “Jumping 1.80m has felt really easy this (outdoor) season it gives me a good feeling going into nationals because I want to be in the top eight and be an All-American. That’s the big goal.”

The ambition has been present all season for Ader, who captured Mountain West Conference indoor and outdoor titles in the high jump. All that’s left now is the execution.

If her performances in Sacramento are any indication of how much Ader has developed and matured in the past year, then Ader could be following UCLA triple jump standout Jessie Maduka and former Georgia heptathlete Louisa Grauvogel as Germany’s next Division 1 women’s All-American.

“Since freshman year, I improved by almost half a meter in the long jump and I high jump 1.80m on a regular basis, which gives me a lot of belief and a lot more confidence,” Ader said. “I’m so happy to have such a great coaching staff and I’m working together with a sports psychologist and he’s been really helpful and our trainer is awesome. Everybody around me does a really good job and I really appreciate that and without them I wouldn’t be here today.”