Athletics has given Otago middle-distance star Rebekah Greene a ticket to the world.
She has qualified for three overseas trips this year.
Greene (16) will compete for New Zealand at the Oceania championships in Sydney next month in her specialist 1500m and 3000m.
In April she competes at the world secondary schools cross-country championships in Slovakia.
But the biggest prize comes in July when she heads to the world junior athletics championships in Canada.
Greene reached the A category standard in the transtasman test in Auckland on Saturday when she finished runner-up to Canterbury's Hannah Newbould (18) in the 1500m.
Newbould won in 4min 21.73sec, while Greene clocked 4min 21.98sec.
Both runners recorded personal-best times.
Greene was just 0.8sec outside Sue Bruce's 1981 national women's aged-16 record.
"I didn't know about the record before the race," Greene told the Otago Daily Times.
"It was annoying to get so close but I've got the rest of the year to chase that record."
Newbould is third on the New Zealand open women's ranking list this season and Greene fourth.
Greene went through all the Otago women's barriers with her time in Auckland.
She has set Otago records in six age categories and has knocked two other notable Otago middle-distance runners off the record books.
The women's aged-18, 19 and 20 records were held by Lorraine Moller (University), with her 1973 time of 4min 25sec.
Moller became New Zealand most successful women's marathon runner and won a bronze medal at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.
Her 37-year-old record was one of the oldest on the books.
But there is more.
Greene is now the Otago senior women's record holder in the event after beating the time set by Gail Metzger (Hill City) in 1986.
Earlier this month, Greene smashed the Otago under-20 record in winning the national 19-and-under 3000m title in 9min 30.69sec.
She also broke five Otago age-group records, in the women's 16, 17, 18 and 19 age groups.
Greene, who is coached by former Australian Jim Baird, has the potential to represent New Zealand at Commonwealth and Olympic Games level.
There is no 3000m for women at the Commonwealth Games.
The qualifying standard for New Delhi in the 1500m is 4min 10sec.
The other Otago athletes competing in Auckland also performed with credit.
The Caversham pair of Daniel Balchin and Lyndon Browne took first and second in the 3km steeplechase in personal-best times.
Balchin reduced his time by five seconds when he won in 9min 22.67sec, and Browne by 15 seconds in clocking 9min 22.90sec.
Kieran Fowler (Taieri) was third in the discus with a throw of 49.28m, which puts him first equal on the national ranking list with Keri Tongalea (Auckland).
