By Molly Magennis
Williamstown Little Athletics Club (WLAC) has a new state champion, a talented young athlete with the potential to go all the way.
Last weekend, January 29-30, Mackenzie Leith took out first place in the 2022 Commonwealth Bank State Combined Events Championships, under 16 boys division.
The event took place over the course of two days at Albert Park, and consisted of seven events: 100 metre sprint, 100 metre hurdles, 800 metres, high jump, long jump, discus and javelin.
Mackenzie said it felt weird to officially be considered the state champion, particularly because he doesn’t specifically train for many of the events he took part in.
“I don’t really train for many of the events like I probably should, but I went out there and a couple of things went my way and I was really happy at the end of the day.”
In addition to taking out the top prize, the star athlete broke the all time highest total points for the seven event program, as well as every under 16 outside record for the WLAC.
“For the [decathlon] and multis and combined, you get points based off how well you do in the event, and at the end of it, you get a combined total of points, and I broke the state record by 500 points,” Mackenzie said.
He said although he knew that if he was at his best he might come close to the record, he was never expecting to surpass it by that much.
“I was really shocked because second [place] was…. four points behind so we just pushed each other through the whole two days and then we both broke it by 500 points.”
Mackenzie’s favourite event is discus, and is the one he normally trains for. He’ll be competing at nationals, to be held in Sydney, where he’ll aim to become a national champion in the throwing event.
Seeing as he’s already achieved the national qualifier for the event earlier in the season, he’s feeling pretty confident.
Mackenzie’s mother Tania said she’s incredibly proud of her son and his achievements, and loves the community and support that comes with being involved with athletics.
“The weekends are spent getting up quite early and getting home quite late, but really, it’s a community as such, and it’s very much our social group….we found a lot of friends and a lot of good friendships within that group,” she said.
For Mackenzie, representing his country one day doing the sport he’s passionate about is something he’d love to achieve.
“I’d love to just keep going on this path and see where it takes me and take it as far as I can.”
