Nick Redlew broke the school’s triple jump record not once, but twice this weekend in California. Redlew is a junior mechanical engineering major who just came off an injury that had been holding him back for the past couple years. The original record was 44’ 1.5”, and Redlew broke it by over an inch at 45’6”.
Nick Redlew at the WAC Indoor Track and Field Conference.
Q: How did it feel to break the school record twice in one weekend?
NR: It was pretty fun. It was really exciting because that was something I’ve been striving for for the past three years, and I’ve had a bunch of injuries for the past two years, so I was frustrated last year that I didn’t get to jump very much. Also, having teammates helps push me. So when I came back I had that extra drive to go for it again.
Q: How is the competition between you and Jordan Kenison pushing you to do better?
NR: It’s fun, it reminds me of high school because in high school we had like eight triple jumpers on our team. It’s nice to have someone on your team who jumps about the same distance as you and then you guys push each other to keep jumping farther and you want to be on top. Especially for me since he’s a freshman, I don’t want to have a freshman be on top.
Q: What was it like to come off an injury and perform so well?
NR: It’s nice because I had been injured for so long and had to just watch practice and do my own thing on the side, on my own. It was kind of sad, I didn’t realize how much I missed doing things until I came back because when you can’t actually practice it’s kind of depressing. So it was good, it was nice to see that my work paid off.
Q: How do you balance being a student and an athlete?
NR: I hadn’t for a while. Recently I had to change my study schedule so I study during the middle of the day, so that after practice when I know I’m gonna be tired and not want to do anything, I won’t have any more work to do. It’s kind of difficult, especially with my major. We have a lot of work so it depends how much there is for the week, so I’m getting better at it.
Q: Is there anyone you look up to?
NR: Definitely Christian Taylor. That was really cool we got to meet him last week. He’s super down to earth, I forgot he was only 26. He graduated right after Beijing.
Q: How was it then to meet him and break the record at the same meet?
NR: It was really cool. I tried to watch him and learn from his form, what’s different from mine and his. There’s definitely things I’m not going to be able to replicate. So it was awesome to meet who I look up to and jump really good at the same meet.
Q: How did you first get interested in track?
NR: At first, in middle school, I started doing it to train for my other sports. I used to play basketball, I used to play football and it was just an offseason thing I could do while working on speed and explosiveness. What’s funny is that I never ended up doing a running event, so my speed never really improved, I ended up just being good at jumping. Eventually as high school went on I stuck with track and dropped the other two.
Q: What’s been your most memorable experience?
NR: Definitely breaking the record. It was kind of cool last weekend. Jordan didn’t jump very well on Friday, then I went in and broke his record. On his first jump Saturday, he was only two people in front of me, he broke it. Then I went out and I broke it again. That’s really funny, and I feel bad because he only held it for only thirty seconds. But it was a memorable moment.
Q: Do you have any expectations as the season comes to an end?
NR: For me, the hope is I will get to score this year at conference. I’m taking the next couple weeks off because my knee got screwed up again. They said if I take the next two weeks off and come back for conference I should be okay. I hope that I can score, as of right now I’m in a place to score, so we’ll see.
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