At the age of 18, Shayne Hargraves has already had a long career in athletics.
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But on Saturday, November 20, the Moruya resident ticked off a significant personal goal when she and three other runners set an Australian Under 20 record at the NSW State Relay Championships.
Hargraves ran with Jaylah Hancock-Cameron (Broulee), Lily Windward ( Ulladulla), and Leyla Liakatos (Wagga) for the South Coast Limitless track team in the Women's 4x1,500m relay.
The old record of 18:22.47 was set by a NSW team in November, 2015, at Blacktown. Though it had stood for almost exactly six years, Hargraves said she, the rest of the team, and coach Andae Kalemusic were confident they could break it based on their training times.
"We were aiming for the win and we were also aiming for that record," she said.
"We were hoping that we would get it, but the coach was pretty set on us getting it. It was motivating, the NSW record was the original goal, but to get the national record as well was really exciting for all of us, so we were excited about that."
A stellar performance on the day at Sydney Olympic Park saw the girls complete a time of 18:21.77, which was 0.7 of a second faster than the original record.
"It felt pretty good that all of us were able to run fairly well, and that we did it from the same squad," Hargraves said.
"We weren't just from the one club, we were also from the same squad. We're all from the South Coast and most of our competitors were from Sydney, so it was really nice to know that we've achieved something big together."
Much of the success in her career so far, Hargraves said, can be attributed to Kalemusic's influence.
"When I first started running, I used to be so nervous and hardly trained," she said.
"But since I started running with her, she motivates all of us to do our best and run to what we're capable of. She's definitely helped me grow a lot."
From here, Hargraves has a two competitions scheduled before a break over Christmas, after which she will take part in events in Melbourne through January. These events will act as a lead-in to the state and national championships.
