Athletics coach Jeremy Wallace has been part of the sport's different disciplines in Orange for a long time. And over those years, the colour city has only had one or two people go to national championships. Now that sprinkling of one or two has become three with Connor Bennett, Adelaide Pittis and Jocelyn Blair all heading to Brisbane in the coming weeks. Bennett had already qualified for the event in the 200 metres but ran brilliant times in the 100m and 400m races at the state championships in Sydney to ensure he'd be participating further at Brisbane. "It felt pretty good ... the time I needed in the 400m was 54 seconds and I ran a 52," he said. After taking up hurdles this season, Blair showed how well she's taken to the discipline, qualifying in the 90m and 200m hurdles - and she was understandably happy with the achievement. "I was pretty happy since it was my first year doing hurdles - I just signed up for it in the Little Athletics season for a bit of fun," she said. Pittis is another athlete with plenty of promise. The Orange Anglican Grammar School student previously dominated at the Combined Independent School's state athletics championships, finishing with a record in the 400m sprint by 1.1 second. It's that event she'll compete in at nationals, and there's no surprise she's 'very excited' about the opportunity. Fellow OAGS student Keegan Willis also qualified for the championships but won't be able to attend after suffering an injury. Wallace, the coach for all four athletes, was delighted to see so many local athletes make it through. "Three is huge, over the years we've had Jackson Willis and Ollie Keegan go through - there's always one or two sprinkled around," he said. "To have three run a national championship qualifying time is pretty cool." With all four training at least four times a week with Wallace, the coach added it's all just rewards for their consistent efforts. "They work very hard, and are very committed," he said. "My squad is run four times a week, then they've got Little Athletics and competitions on the weekends too. "It's a big commitment from families and the athletes to get around to all these events and clock up those times." Having watched them work hard over the athletics season, Wallace added there was plenty of joy seeing his competitors run qualifying times. "It was very cool, as the times and results came through from the weekend and you look at it and think wow there's another one and another one," he said. "Connor and Jocey work very well together and then Adelaide chipping in, she trains with Mitch Williamson as well as myself - she spreads her workload across." WHAT DO YOU THINK? We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on the Central Western Daily website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. Sign up for a subscription here.