JIMBOOMBA Athletics Club athlete Camryn Newton-Smith blitzed her field to claim the under 16s national heptathlon champion title at the Australian Athletics Open and Combined Events Championships recently.
The 14-year-old competed against 18 other athletes from across Australia in the heptathlon event, which included high jump, long jump, 90m hurdles, shot put, javelin and 200m and 800m races.
Camryn achieved personal best times in five of the seven events, completing the 90m hurdles in 13 seconds, jumping 1.62m in the high jump and 5.24m in the long jump and running the 200m in 26.50 seconds and the 800m in two minutes and 31 seconds.
She said she was happy to achieve so many personal bests and win the heptathlon event by more than 500 points.
"It was difficult and I had to push myself but that is what I wanted to do, to give the best performance that I could, and it was a great feeling to win," Camryn said.
"I came second in the heptathlon event at nationals last year so I was aiming to win it this year."
In the heptathlon Camryn won the individual hurdles and javelin events, was the equal highest high jumper, second best long jumper, fourth fastest 200m runner, third best shot putter and second fastest 800m runner.
Camryn said she was keen to continue competing in heptathlon as she enjoyed the variety of events in it.
"Not many athletes compete in heptathlon but those who do are really good at it," she said.
"To keep competing in it and improving I will have to continue to put in a lot of time and effort at training. With so many different events to compete in practising all of them does take time."