Young Mount Gambier athlete Hayden Crowe stunned spectators with a dominant performance at last weekend’s All Schools State Athletics Championships in Adelaide.

At just 15 years of age, Crowe represented Mount Gambier High School in the Under 18’s age bracket with pride and raced home with two gold medals and a bronze from his three events.

In his two victorious races – 200m and 400m – Crowe even broke the Under 18’s national qualifying time to put his name in an even brighter spot- light.

Reflecting on his performance Crowe said he was satisfied but believed he could have achieved even more.

“I am really happy with how I went and it was a really good weekend,” he said.

“I was in the Under 18 age group and I am not even 16 yet, so a lot of the guys I was running against were 17 and in terms of my medals it was basically the same as my last state competition.

“But I definitely think I could have done better and my coach (Sally Taylor) told me I did a few things wrong in the 200m race.” The two-day campaign began with the taxing 400m race, which Crowe won in remarkable fashion.

The youngster started in the widest lane, which put him on the back foot in the two important bends with the competitors on the inside.

However, the others could not catch Crowe, who charged to the finish line in an impressive time of 50.04 seconds.

Crowe rated his 400m performance as his best after it was more than a second faster than the national qualifying time.

“The 400 was probably the highlight for me because I had a target of 50 seconds flat at the start of the season and I met it,” he said.

“I was also in the outside lane nine which is always tough, so I knew I had to go out fast otherwise they would have caught me on the second curve.

“Although I was really confident, I thought some of the other guys might be running 48’s, so I was super impressed I managed to win.” But Crowe said the joy of victory came at a cost.

“Surprisingly after the 400m race I did not feel sick because you expect to vomit after doing that race at maximum effort, but I had a really bad headache,” he said.

“Luckily the headache went away after I had some fluid and had a slow jog to cool down, but I had to rush to the medal presentations and I did not have time to stretch, so when I tried to go over the fence, both of my calves cramped up at the same time.”

Just hours after the big race and the cramps, Crowe went back on the track and competed in the 100m event.

Despite facing rivals with much fresher legs, he finished third in the short dash after a photo finish was required with just two hundredths of a second splitting the top three.

The success continued Sunday for Crowe as he crossed the line in first place in the 200m race with a strong time of 22.85 seconds.

He said it was nice to win his “favourite event” after battling a strong headwind.

“I really wanted to win the 200m race because it means a lot to me,” Crowe said.

“You could really feel the headwind and it felt like I was getting nowhere, but I still ran my PB.” After arriving home with three more medals in his pocket, Crowe now turns his attention to the Mount Gambier Gift later this month with a busy summer ahead.