Former local track athlete Leila Croker is storming to success, representing SA with distinction
Last week Croker represented SA in the Australian Athletics Championships in Perth and came away with a successful performance.
Croker welcomed the opportunity to compete at a national level.
“It is always fun and an honour to represent South Australia at the National Championships alongside getting the opportunity to compete against athletes from the other states,” she said.
“Travelling across the country with my coach and family to new places is always so fun and exciting and brings a new element to competition.
“We obviously are one of the smaller states in the country so it is always great when South Australians come together and do really well.”
Croker competed in the Women’s Under 20 Heptathlon and won gold, competing in seven events over two days with three personal bests and one SA state record.
She finished first in five heptathlon events, and third in the other two.
Croker was first across the line in the 100m hurdles with a time of 13.71s and recorded a PB in high jump with a height of 1.61m, finishing third in that event.
She achieved another third in the shot put, however it was a season best in the event with a result of 10.82 with a 4kg shot put.
In the 200m Croker clocked up another first place with a PB, finishing with a time of 24.51s, also finishing first in the long jump Croker with a distance of 5.68m.
The former Mount Gambier athelete recorded another season best as she finished first in the 600g javelin with a distance of 41.31m.
Croker’s final event was the 800m where she clocked another first as well as another personal best with a time of 2:18.65m.
Croker blew out the competition in the heptathlon, finishing with a state record of 5554 points, with 389 points separating her and second place.
“My score of 5554 points in the heptathlon was quite a large personal best for me,” she said.
“So I am quite proud of my performance and how my events came together over the two days.
“I was also fortunate enough to break the South Australian U20 record for total points, and achieve individual event PBs in the high jump, 200m and 800m within my heptathlon, so each one of those were also a highlight.”
A highlight for Croker in the event was her personal best result in the high jump.
“High jump has been one of the weaker events for me in the heptathlon so it was a long time coming with lots of training sessions and determination to achieve this goal,” she said.
It was a special moment for Croker winning gold along with the people who had helped support her along the way.
“Achieving the gold in the heptathlon was definitely special to myself but also the people around me, especially my coach Gaby Philis,” she said.
“A lot of hard work from myself and my support system went into the preparation for this competition so I am very grateful that it all came together and I could put my best self forward.”
