Auvaa becomes national champion with commanding shot put victory

Auvaa became Bathurst's latest national champion after a commanding win in the girls under 13s shot put at the recent Athletics Australia Junior Championships in Adelaide.

In her first year competing at the event Auvaa wasn't fazed by the occasion and threw a huge personal best of 11.30 metres to finish almost a metre and a half clear of the field.

On top of that Auvaa also returned home with bronze medals in the javelin and discus, where she also threw new personal bests in both events.

It's not the first taste of gold at a national event for Auvaa, having previously done so at the School Sport Australia Championships, but this one means that extra bit more to the Bathurst athlete.

Auvaa was one of four Bathurst Athletics Club competitors to make the trip to Adelaide, along with Byron Rosier, Will Curtin and Thalia Ruming.

Rosier also returned home with a medal after his silver medal effort in the under 14s, clearing a new PB height of 168 centimetres to finish just 4cm off the gold medal mark.

Saying that Auvaa put her rivals away with ease in the shot put is putting it lightly.

Her first throw of 10.88m was enough to already put her a metre clear of the field but she wasn't done just yet.

Auvaa's next two throws were slightly short of that mark but with nothing to lose on her final effort she took a risk on her fourth and final throw, which paid off.

Auvaa said she loved every moment of the experience.

"There were a lot of older people there too, and I was against people from Western Australia, which I haven't done before," she said.

"I really wanted to throw 11 metres but I never thought that I'd throw a 11.30. I was hoping for something like an 11.04.

"I have a problem where I sometimes hold back but on the last throw I just went for it, because I was the last thrower and no-one could beat my throw.

"I felt pretty confident with my shot put though I wasn't as confident with my discus or javelin and I knew that I might not be able to get medals."

The minor placings in the discus and javelin were equally impressive from Auvaa.

The Bathurst junior had come into the shot put as the number one seed but was the sixth seed for her other two events, meaning she'd made rapid improvements to land herself on the podium.

Auvaa's mother, Tiffany, couldn't be happier to see her daughter succeed after all the work that's gone into her athletics.

"The discus and javelin were a bonus. We're so proud of her. Not a lot of the throwers pick up medals in all three of those events, and she was the only one in her age group to do that," she said.

"There's such different techniques and body types you see in those three events, so there was a lot of prep that went into it to make sure that she was doing the right technique for each event.

"For about 10 minutes every night she was working on technique for each of the events and I think that paid off quite a bit."

Rosier added to the Bathurst medal collection by clearing a new personal best in the high jump, falling just shy of Victorian Stanley Moore in a hard fought fight for the gold.

The Bathurst athlete showed nerves of steel to clear 1.6m and 1.68m after failing his first two attempts at both heights.

The work is not over yet for Rosier.

He now gets set to take on the high jump again at the Australian Little Athletics Championships in Adelaide, running from April 26 to 28.

Curtin equalled his PB of 55.10 in the boys under 15s 400m heat, putting him 12^th overall, and then produced another personal best of 2:09.32 in the 800m to be 17^th overall in the country.

Ruming threw 32.22 in the women's under 20s discus to finish 18^th in her first nationals attempt.