Zoe Muir, 15, will travel to Darwin, Australia to compete in discus and javelin with the New Zealand U18 team from May 18 to 23.
The year 11 student said she put her hand up for the champs.
‘‘We ... had to be top performers in our age group, and ... coming second and third ... at nationals helped with my selection.’’
She got silver in the U18 javelin, throwing a personal best of 35.13m and got close to her personal best of 34.53m in discus, where she clinched a bronze at the New Zealand Championships in Auckland in March.
She was coached by Chris Knight for her throwing and her mother, Jane Muir, for running. She had herself put on the black singlet for New Zealand in the 400m.
Ms Muir said her mother received an email with the news she would be donning the silver fern.
‘‘I was like ‘do I really want to read this email?’... I thought it’d just be something not very exciting and she [her mother] was like, yeah I’m sure you want to look at this one.
‘‘I was very excited. I wasn’t really expecting it.’’
Ms Muir said it would cost about $5500 to get her to the championships.
She had worked on the family farm and was thankful to have been bolstered by the Mataura Licensing Trust (MLT) and the Athletics Southland development squad, who backed athletes around the Southland region aged from 13 to 20.
She kept herself busy and competed in athletics every weekend in the summer alongside nationals with the Wyndham Athletics Club and a sprinkling of other events around the south.
A packed timetable was no issue for her though.
The Oceania championship was another string to a bow that also included running the 400m. She made the final at Nationals this year and said she was ‘‘getting into’’ the heptathlon.
gemma.sinclair@alliedmedia.co.nz
