Nicola Ader: A Nevada track and field sensation
RENO, Nev. (BVM) — For many people, sports are important parts of their lives. For some, sports are their whole lives. This is the case for Nicola Ader.
Ader is from a small town in Germany, but came to the U.S for college because of the opportunity to pursue athletics. The all-star heptathlete came to the University of Nevada, Reno in 2017 and has been making huge leaps and bounds since 鈥� both literally and figuratively.
As a freshman, Ader won gold in the pentathlon at the Mountain West indoor championships. From there, she continued to improve. During Ader鈥檚 sophomore year, she earned All-American honors three times and became the most decorated track and field athlete in Wolfpack history. During her junior year, she was only able to compete in indoor, where she broke the school record for the 60-meter hurdles.聽
Due to Covid-19, her 2020 outdoor season was canceled, but this did not stop Ader. Once she was able to compete again, she came out on fire. Ader earned All-American in the indoor season, finishing in 16th place in the heptathlon. During her senior outdoor season, Ader won gold yet again at the Mountain West Championships and qualified for the NCAA finals in the heptathlon.聽
2022 was her fifth-year season and this was only possible because of the canceled Covid-19 year. She had an incredible season, breaking a decades-long school record for the heptathlon. Ader was named outstanding performer of the Mountain West Championships.
Perhaps the most notable accomplishment of Ader鈥檚 season was her qualification for the NCAA national championships on June 10-11 in the heptathlon.
The heptathlon consists of seven events: three running events and four field events over a period of two days. During each event, the athlete receives a score from 0-1,000, and sometimes more than that, depending on how they compete in that event. At the end of the whole heptathlon, these individual scores are added up. The highest scoring athlete wins.
On the first day of the meet, Ader competed in the 100 hurdles, high jump, shot put and the 200-meter dash.聽
Ader鈥檚 strongest event on day one was high jump, where she placed second overall with a height of 1.78 meters behind heptathlon sensation, Anna Hall. Although she did phenomenal in high jump, she placed 20th out of 23 athletes in the 200, setting her a little back for day two.聽
On the second day, the athletes completed the heptathlon with the last three events: long jump, javelin and the 800. Ader performed a little better on the second day, staying right in the middle of the pack for almost every event. Her most impressive event on day two was javelin, where she earned fifth with a throw of 42.7 meters.聽
In the end, though, her performances in high jump and javelin were not enough to earn her an All-American spot. Ader came up just short of earning an eighth-place finish which would have made her an NCAA All-American.聽
Despite the setback at Nationals, Ader has had an outstanding career at Nevada and has a bright future in track and field ahead of her.
