Welch

LA GRANDE — Hunter Nichols is always up for a challenge, whether it be school, studying for the Medical College Admission Test, or trying out a new event on the track.

This spring, Nichols, a graduate student at Eastern Oregon University, decided the steeplechase would be a good challenge. After proving his worth at several distances over his career, adding barriers and water pits to a 3,000-meter race would be a new adventure.

“We had discussed it when I was a freshman, I thought he was crazy,” Nichols said of EOU track coach Ben Welch. “We never revisited it again until this year. I said I would give it a shot. I thought I could do well, but not in the first two meets.”

Welch said he knew Nichols could handle the event.

“I joked about it and said he needed to try,” Welch said. “He has great range when he runs, from the 800 to the 5,000. Indoor is the same thing. He’s just an athlete. He is tougher than nails.”

Coming off a fantastic indoor season where he set the school record in the 3,000 meters, Nichols, a 2019 Heppner graduate, competed in his first steeplechase on March 16 at the Electric Forest Open in Portland.

He turned in a time of 9 minutes, 23.73 seconds, won the event and posted a “B” standard for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics national meet.

“It’s my last year,. I have to put everything toward my race, even if I haven’t done it before,” Nichols said.

His second race was at the 15th annual Mike Fanelli Track Classic on March 30 at Chabot College in Hayward, California. He finished 14th with a time of 9:21.24 in a field full of NCAA Division I runners.

“I was in Palm Spring for spring break and I just flew out for the race,” Nichols said. “I was the only one from my school there.”

The third time around, on April 5, Nichols finished third at the Whitworth Peace Meet in Spokane, Washington. He turned in a time of 9:18.44 for a new personal record and an “A” standard for the NAIA national meet.

His 9:18.44 time earned him the No. 9 spot on the all-time record list at EOU for the event, and he has the third fastest time in the NAIA this season, through April 10.

“It’s fun to do something a little different than I have done the last four years,” he said. “It adds a new challenge to racing. It’s not an easy race, I found that out.”

Over the course of the steeplechase race, athletes will go over 28 barriers and encounter seven water pits. According to the IAAF, the race originated at Oxford University in the 19th century.

Welch said it takes a certain kind of athlete to compete in the event, and Nichols has all the qualities.

“You have to have a sheer racing range and athleticism,” Welch said. “The race demands that. You look for temperament and talent, and people like Hunter who are versatile.”

Nichols thought he could do well in the event, but not to the extent that he has.

“I thought I could do good, but not in the first three meets,” he said. “My first time was good, but then I was faster last weekend. By the end of the season I will be there.”

Putting in the work

Nichols has had a very strict schedule the past six months. He gets up at 5:30 a.m to do his online classes and homework, then he goes to work at Pioneer West in La Grande building tractors. Then it’s off to track practice. Once he gets home, he studies for the MCAT and then does it all over again the next day.

“I have done some practice tests,” Nichols said of the MCAT. “I took it last year and did decent, but I’m taking it again to get a better score. You are supposed to study 350 hours for the test, which is hard to do when you are a full-time student and athlete.”

Nichols took the MCAT on Friday, April 12, in Boise, Idaho, then drove to Portland, where EOU will competed in the Larry Byerly Invite. He skipped the steeplechase this weekend.

“I am taking a break from the steeplechase and doing the 1,500 to get a little speed in me,” he said.

Nichols has four meets until the Cascade Collegiate Conference Championship on May 10-11 in Klamath Falls.

The NAIA Outdoor National Championships are May 23-25 at Indiana-Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana.

One for the record books

During his time at EOU, Nichols has plastered his name all over the track and field record books.

Nichols shattered the school record in the indoor 3,000 meters, and bettered his own personal best time, on Feb. 9 at the Husky Classic in Seattle, crossing the finish line in 8:18.05.

Nichols’ time broke a decade-old record at EOU — 8:23.70 by Isaac Updike. Nichols’ previous best time in the event was 8:34.61.

On the indoor record list, he is ranked in the top 10 in the 5,000, 1 mile, 3,000, 800, 1,000 and 600. He is ranked first in the 3,000 and third in the 1,000.

Outdoors, he is ranked in the top 10 in the steeplechase, 800 and 1,500, where he is sixth.

“I have been here 33 years,” Welch said. “I’ve only had a few guys like Hunter. “You don’t get people with great range very often — to run everything from a 4×400 leg to the 5,000. They either lack speed or stamina. He’s got it all. He will be a tough guy to replace.”