The phrase 'stepping up' is one used all too regularly when it comes to athletes and their achievements but it could not be more true in the case of Maya Piras.
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The 18-year-old has enjoyed a stellar 2019, one which was capped off last Sunday when she won silver at the Australian All Schools Athletics Championships.
Piras won silver in the 100m hurdles but must literally step up in 2020 as she moves up in grade and the hurdle height goes from its current 76cm to 84cm, the height used at the most elite level.
"I want to get that far again but with the higher height," Piras said of her national honour.
"It's going to be hard but I really want to go this far again.
"You have to be even more focused on technique. At the 76 you can kind of make a mistake and it doesn't really matter but with the 84 you've got to be perfect to not hit it."
While there was a little more flexibility at the 76cm mark Piras didn't need it as she blitzed her way over the hurdles in the 100m final at the all schools championships in Perth, even surprising herself.
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The Dubbo College star made the trip to Perth after finishing second at the NSW titles.
While she went in with confidence and plenty of form, she had never had a taste of competition like the national standard she experienced there.
"It was very exciting," she said.
"I didn't really expect it. I was just going to go and make it a good experience, run a good time and try my best and I didn't expect to go that far.
"It was the first time I'd made it that far so to get a medal as well, that's the best I've ever done in the early 10 years I've been doing this."
Piras ran second in her heat at Perth, finishing in a time of 14.35 seconds to book passage through to the national final.
That race was the next day and she showed her quality in that event, taking more than three tenths of a second off her heat time.
Queenslander Emily Campbell scored a commanding win to take gold but the battle for silver was much tighter.
Only a late lunge from Piras saw her nab silver ahead of Emelia Surch of Queensland, who beat the Dubbo star in the heat a day earlier, in a time of 14.05 seconds.
While the result may have been something of a surprise, it was a deserved one given the huge amount of work 18-year-old Piras puts in.
She trains for roughly one-and-a-half hours for five or six days a week, working on her sprinting, strength in the gym, and technique over the hurdles.
She has a coach at home and two specialist hurdles mentors in Sydney she works remotely with, sending videos back and forth to fine-tune things.
"I just started because my old coach was," she said, looking back at her first hurdles events roughly a decade ago.
"And then I just seemed to be good at it and I really enjoyed it. It's so technical and you have to have attention to detail and really focus.
"I'm always improving and there's still a couple of things I could improve on."
Piras will enjoy a short break next week and will have some time off over Christmas before ramping things up as she works to make NSW Championships in March of next year.
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Nick Guthrie
I started working at the Daily Liberal in 2013 and now hold the position of senior journalist. I cover all that's happening in sport in Dubbo and the wider western area and have a passion for doing so. If you've got a story that needs telling, reach out.
I started working at the Daily Liberal in 2013 and now hold the position of senior journalist. I cover all that's happening in sport in Dubbo and the wider western area and have a passion for doing so. If you've got a story that needs telling, reach out.
