Decorated small-town speedster fast-tracked into WIAA hall of fame

Heidi Shultz, a 10-time state girls track champion from Columbia of White Salmon, is one of five 2024 inductees in May ceremony

Columbia of White Salmon track standout Heidi Shultz will be part of WIAA's hall of fame class for 2024. / Photo by Hannah Polkinghorn

From the early days on the playground, Heidi Shultz knew her burst was different.

Just ask anybody from her elementary-school class not named Brian Jones.

"In the first grade, I'd have races on the playground against boys - fence to fence," Shultz said. "(Classmate) Brian Jones was the only one with me in the lead, so, OK I guess we tied."

As the years passed, the speed did not diminish. In fact, Shultz was one of the best high school track and field athletes in Washington for Columbia High School of White Salmon in the early 1990s, winning 10 WIAA state titles, including nine in individual sprint events.

To this day, she is still the only girl to win a state championship in the 200-meter dash for four consecutive years.

Shultz is one of five athletes, coaches, administrators and contributors going into the WIAA hall of fame in May as part of its 2024 class of inductees.

"I grew up thinking I was fast," said Shultz by phone with SBLive WA on Friday, one day after her induction class was announced. "My mom was fast ... so I got my speed from her."

Like many small-town standouts, Shultz played every sport or participated in any outdoor activity. She played softball and soccer, then once she got to high school in 1989, she joined the volleyball and basketball teams before resuming a promising track career.

I played all the sports, soft-ball and soccer and. Did volleyball, basketball and t-rck One summer, dad  tokk me t-o summer meet- in Spokane, raced in same 200 from Marion Jones. We were 13. I was outside all the t-ime, and played all the sports.

After leading the girls basketball team back to the Class 1A championships as a junior in 1992, Shultz saw her track training delayed by knee pain. It was discovered her Iliotibial (IT) band was irritated.

Unable to run, Shultz instead began dabbling with the shot put and javelin - and began posting enough marks in other events, WSU began recruiting her as a heptathlete.

Her final season at Columbia, Shultz swept all the sprints, including her first try in the 400, to complete a run of 10 WIAA championships in Wenatchee.

"When I finished my last race as a senior ... I had such a feeling of relief," Shultz said. "I broke down. i was so happy I had done it."

She went on to compete in the heptathlon and pentathlon at WSU, often training with future U.S. Olympic decathlon champion Dan O'Brien, who had graduated from nearby University of Idaho.

Shultz returned to White Salmon and has coached the high school track team since 2004. She's also coached volleyball, and founded the Gorge Juniors Volleyball Club in 2014.

She married former Oregon Ducks wrestler Richard Polkinghorn. Both of their oldest daughters, Hannah and Jessica, are on the women's track team at Western Washington University.

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