20-year-old shot-putter Tyler Hartsteen is seriously looking to defend his NWAACC championship title at home next weekend.

The champion, who is a psychology major at Mt. Hood, has been an athlete since high school, participating in football, wrestling and track.

While in high school, he threw the discus, javelin and shot-put, but he sticks to the shot-put and hammer throw now that he is a sophomore in college.

When he graduated from Hermiston High School in eastern Oregon two years ago, Hartsteen signed with Western Oregon for a football scholarship. But when the time for football camp approached, he just decided not to go.

“It might have been because I was lazy,” he said. “But I was also kind of burnt-out on sports at the time.”

A short time later, he decided he had made the wrong decision, too late. “Coming to Mt. Hood was sort of a last-minute thing but it was the only way I could go to college and still play a sport.”

Hartsteen, who enjoys hunting and watching sporting events on television, especially college sports, will transfer to Boise State as a walk-on football player in the fall. He chose Boise State because of the football team, the academics, and the overall area surrounding the campus. Eventually, he hopes the football team will notice his talent for the game and offer him a scholarship and a starting position.

“Even though I’ve been out of football for a couple of years, just give me some time and I will make it as a starter,” he said.

A Muhammud Ali fan, Hartsteen attains motivation from the famous boxer and Vietnam War protester. “He’s the best. His quotes are really something to live by,” he said.

Another excerpt the sports fanatic and aspiring FBI investigator tries to live by is an imaginative statement by comedian Martin Laurence that pumps him up for track meets: “Ride it til’ the wheels fall off.”