Local track star headed to Houston
Mapleton multi-sport track star Nathaniel Mechler is headed to an American university on a scholarship.
Mechler, who earned a bronze medal in decathlon at the Pan American Junior Championships in Edmonton in July, has received a major track and field scholarship offer from the University of Houston beginning in the fall of 2016. In Houston, the Goldstone youth will be coached by Kyle Tellez a 17-year veteran with the school. The Tellez name is renowned in track circles as Kyle’s father Tom Tellez (now retired and living in South Texas) was among the top track and field coaches in U.S. history, having worked with notable athletes like Leroy Burrell, Carl Lewis and Mike Marsh.
“Tom Tellez showed up to a recruiting breakfast to meet Nathaniel last weekend in Houston. It was a dream come true for Nathaniel,” said his father Roland Mechler.
Roland noted the coaching team in Houston is made up of 10 ex-Olympians, who “have assured Nathaniel that they will do everything possible to help him achieve his Olympic dreams.”
At the University of Houston, Nathaniel will be studying kinesiology in a program bolstered by NASA sponsorship and consistently ranked in the top five in the U.S.
Nathaniel’s parents, Roland and Colleen, “are just ecstatic that Nathaniel can pursue his dream of elite athletics and simultaneously get a world-class education. To have found a place where the coaches believe in and will help him achieve those dreams, makes it extra special,” stated Roland in an e-mail to the Advertiser.
