It was all business for Niko at the Morolake Elite Invitational
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Last March Niko Schultz was on his way to stardom... and then the Global Pandemic hit.
The standout senior from Plainfield South had indoor times of 1:56.99 and 50.83 respectively. The latter was the top returning indoor time for an Illinois 800m runner.
At the Morolake Akinosun Elite Invitational, Schultz entered in the 800 and 400. This would be a highly anticipated debut in which some pundits waged some serious returns. The former starting quarterback gave up the sport he loved because it was furloughed to the winter and he probably realized that getting optimal effort out of a sport of his future is right now.
The "championship race" was nothing short of fantastic
The first event up was the half-mile and Schultz strutted his fitness right away with brisk opening circuits of 26.1 and 55.0. The final result was a state-leading and US#10 time of 1:54.41.
Schultz is slated to compete in the 600- a hot event but seldomly ran on Illinois soil. There have been some super fast times run in the event. The fastest known time is from Tim Hobbs. The former York HS great clocked 1:21.90 in 2001. Hobbs was an intricate part of the York Green Machine which set the national 4x800m record of 7:34.1.
Schultz will be matched up against Wisconsin native Nathan Cumberbatch who ran 1:53.88 last weekend. This will be a race worth the price of gold on February 20, Saturday afternoon inside Gately Track and Field Stadium.