Among 17 athletes from the club in action, as well as 26 from the Wagga little athletics club, Mison and Okerenyang provided the ultimate highlights.

Mison was first in the under 15 girls’ 1500 metre walk, finishing in in 7 minutes, 27.98 seconds.

“It felt great,” Mison said. “I came second last year and the year before that I came first, so I was hoping that I’d win.”

Also a keen netballer, Mison developed a passion for walking after virtually stumbling upon her ability around five years ago.

“It was at a regionals carnival in about under 10s,” she said. “A lady was saying does anyone want to do a workshop. I went over and she said, ‘you’re pretty good, you should do it’.”

Discovering she had the knack, Mison has barely looked back, finishing third at nationals two years ago.

“It wasn't really hard for me,” she said. “Some people have trouble with it but I just knew how to do it.”

There’s no progression to nationals this year (with Australian championships only featuring the under 13 age group) but Mison is keen to continue her development, seeking out a new coach.

Okerenyang won his gold in the boys’ under 15 long jump, leaping 6.60 metres. 

“That was a 22cm personal best,” Okerenyang said. He won by a massive 30cm. 

He also finished with two silver medals on the track and a bronze medal in the triple jump, where his 12.77m effort was below his best.

“I wasn’t very happy with the jump but it wasn’t the best conditions, it was pretty windy,” Okerenyang said.

Running 11.44 seconds for the 100m, he was beaten by just two one-hundredths of a second by arch rival Felix Long (Randwick Botany).

Long also prevailed in the 200m but Okerenyang’s time of 22.38 seconds was a narrow personal best.

The rising star now has two national carnivals to prepare for – the juniors at the Australian Athletics Championships in Sydney next week, and then the national multi-event championship at the end of the month.

Five other athletes from the two Wagga clubs finished among the medals: