Woodland Park junior Natasha Bruins broke her own school record last Tuesday in the long jump with a mark of 17 feet, 6.5 inches in the snowy town’s first completed home dual meet in five years.For her accomplishment, Bruins is The Gazette’s Athlete of the Week.

How does the track program here deal with the weather?

We’ve basically just been running in the halls. We haven’t jumped at all. Our first meet, we had never jumped and we’ve never gotten our steps, so it was kind of difficult, but it was fun. We’ve been running in the halls and last week we practiced on the track and that’s about it. It’s tough but we manage, because we had to do it for awhile.

How were you able to practice jumping?

We didn’t practice (laughs). We just jumped. We did some steps in the halls, but it’s not quite accurate, because of regular shoes. Your steps change when you have spikes on, so it wasn’t quite accurate, but it was kind of good I guess.

You play club volleyball too?

Yes.

Which do you like better?

Both. I want to play volleyball in college, just because they don’t give out much scholarships for track. So, if I do play volleyball in college, I still want to do track. So I’m working on volleyball really hard so I can get a scholarship, but then I can still do track at the same time.

How soon after your jump did you know that you broke your old record?

Right after I jumped, I was like, “It’s past 17-feet-2,” so I was all excited. I looked at the tape measure and I was like “Yes!” and I freaked out (laughs). It was cool.

What does it mean to you, to set a record?

It’s pretty exciting, just because I had the record last year and then just to make it higher. I plan to make it higher and higher, so hopefully nobody breaks it when I graduate.

You still have another year, do you think you can break it again?

Oh yeah. I hope so. My goal is 18 feet this year, so I’m hoping.

What is your favorite subject in school?

Probably math and art. And P.E. I guess.

What kind of art are you doing?

I like scrapbooking and then clay work. In crafts right now, we’re just doing different stuff. Just crafty stuff.

Do you go all out at craft stores?

I try. For Christmas I asked my mom for a scrapbooking kit and a ton of scrapbooking stuff. I’ve worked on that a little bit. I don’t go to many craft stores, I just go ask my mom to buy me the stuff. In the summertime I do it a lot, because I have more time.

If you were to win the lottery, what’s the first thing you would buy?

A new car (laughs).

What kind of car?

A Mitsubishi Eclipse convertible.

Natasha Bruins Photo by