Standout athlete almost quit sport
due to rough couple of years
By Darren
Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex
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| Nicole Ostertag helped the Huskies win a Canada West title. |
Having built a reputation as being one of the best combined events athletes to come out of Saskatoon in some time, Ostertag went through a 2024 season where she didn’t compete at all due to injuries and illness. She returned to action in early 2025 only to have another setback at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, California, in April of that year.
“I hurt
myself again, and that was really tough for me,” said Ostertag. “We were in
California getting some early competitions in, and I took off funny in high
jump and injured my knee.
“That was
just devastating, and that was when I kind of decided that I had enough. My
body seemed to be rejecting it, so I took a long break.”
The
25-year-old returned to the University of Saskatchewan to begin studying in the
Master of Physical Therapy program. At that point, Ostertag considered
rejoining the Huskies Women’s Track and Field Team.
She built a
lot of great memories in her time with the Huskies that included setting the
Huskies women’s program record for most points obtained in the pentathlon at
3,996 back in 2020. That record still stands to this day.
Ostertag
approached Jason Reindl, who is the head coach of both Huskies women’s and
men’s track and field teams, with the notion of making a possible return.
“I was ready
to hang up my spikes and end my track career,” said Ostertag, who stands
5-foot-8. “I started my master’s of physical therapy at the university this
year.
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| Nicole Ostertag makes a hurdles practice run on July 7, 2023. |
At the Panda Open held this past February 6 and 7 in Edmonton, Alta., Ostertag broke the Huskies women’s team record in the 60-metre hurdles running in a time of 8.12 seconds. The old mark of 8.15 seconds run back in 2020 was held by one of her best friends in Michelle Harrison, who represented Canada running the women’s 100-metre hurdles in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.
Harrison’s record came in a gold medal winning race in the 2020 U Sports Track
and Field Championships.
On the first day of this year’s Canada West Conference Track and Field Championships on February 20, Ostertag won the conference title in the 60-metre women’s hurdles running the championship final in a Canada West record time of 8.07 seconds edging fifth-year veteran Sienna MacDonald of the U of Calgary Dinos. MacDonald, who won both the Canada West and U Sports titles in the women’s 60-metre hurdles in 2024 and 2025, held the previous Canada West conference record in that event, running a time of 8.08 seconds in a preliminary race earlier in the day.
“It was so
much fun, especially this year having Sienna MacDonald from Calgary to compete
against,” said Ostertag, who also helped the Huskies women’s team win an eighth
straight Canada West Conference team title. “She is a force, and she has been
putting down crazy hurdle times for the last couple of years.
“To be able to kind of dethrone her, this is the first time she has been beaten in a while, it was fun. We are really good friends. We keep it light, so just having that energy between us is quite unique.”
On the
second day of the U Sports Track and Field Championships on March 6 in
Winnipeg, Man., Ostertag again edged MacDonald in championship race of the
women’s 60-metre hurdles. Ostertag posted another Huskies program record time of 8.05
seconds to just edge MacDonald at 8.06 seconds. The Huskies women’s team
finished second overall in the team points race at U Sports nationals, which
wrapped up on March 7.
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| Nicole Ostertag, right, and Michelle Harrison are great friends. |
When he became the Huskies head coach in 2017, Reindl helped Harrison return to the sport and the Huskies after she became disillusioned having battled numerous injuries. Harrison went on to run better than she ever did piling up numerous accomplishments in making it to the 2024 Summer Olympics.
“I’m in a very similar position as Michelle (Harrison) was all those years ago, where she just decided to go back to school and do track for fun,” said Ostertag. “I came into this season just wanting to have fun, and Jason (Reindl) was fully accepting of that.
“He kept me limited to three practices a week. He would not let me over do it.”
Reindl said
the key to bringing back the fun for Ostertag in track and field was to be
intelligent with her training, which helps with confidence and shows through in
competitions.
“I think it
just goes into my, you know, kind of coaching philosophy,” said Reindl. “We are
going to make smart decisions and really look at long term high performance.
“If we can
stay healthy and get quality work in, there really are no limits. That is what
Michelle (Harrison’s) kind of pathway was, and Nicole (Ostertag) is you know in
this non-combined events world at the moment doing exceptionally well. We’re
just excited to keep on working with her and seeing how far we can take this.”
Reindl said
Ostertag has always been an extremely hard worker with a positive attitude. The
coach added the star athlete’s day-to-day effort has allowed her to have the
success she has had. For the Huskies as a team, Reindl said it has been big to
have Ostertag back.
“It is
awesome,” said Reindl. “She is such an exceptional athlete.
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| Nicole Ostertag throw a shot during the 2023 Saskatchewan provincials. |
While she ended up with the Canada West record in the 60-metre hurdles, Ostertag entered the season with the desire to break Harrison’s Huskies record in that event.
“That was my goal coming into this year,” said Ostertag. “It kind of played into my motivation to come back.
“I wanted
to go get Michelle (Harrison’s) record, because she is such a good friend to
me, but we’re always trying to one-up each other. She is like one of the best
hurdlers that Canada has seen, so to break her record is pretty darn special.”
Harrison
stepped away from track and field after giving birth to a baby daughter named
Izzy and starting a family with her husband, Graeme, in June of 2025. Ostertag
and Harrison trained together for a number of years since the Track and Field
Track opened on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds in 2019, which helped
develop their friendship.
In the
summer of 2023, their training group included the pride of Borden in Savannah
Sutherland, who made the final of the 400-metre women’s hurdles in the 2024
Summer Olympics, and star heptathlete Madisson Lawrence from Winnipeg, Man.
That provided a lasting memory for Ostertag.
“It was so
much fun just having so many elite women training together, and our coach Jason
(Reindl) kept things light and made the hard training days feel a little bit
easier,” said Ostertag. “I’m hoping that if Michelle (Harrison) makes her
comeback that we can train together once again, because that was pretty
special.”
With that
said, Ostertag is doing her best to stay in the moment and enjoy the day to day
of the sport of track and field. Still, she admits she has had visions of
getting back into combined events or maybe pushing for the next Summer Olympics
in 2028 in Los Angeles, California.
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| Nicole Ostertag, right, enjoys working with Jason Reindl, left. |
“I did not
expect to run this fast, but now that the joy has come back, I am starting to
get the itch to start combined events again and maybe make a run at the 2028
Olympics. We will see. Time will tell.”
