April 23, 2025
Nanango State High School student Jessica Tranter, 13, is heading to Adelaide this weekend for the Australian Little Athletics Championships.
Jessica, who is a member of the Nanango Little Athletics Centre, will be competing in the U14s Girls discus and shotput competitions at the prestigious competition.
She told southburnett.com.au she was excited to be heading to the championships.
Jessica has been training in discus for about two years, but only began working seriously with shotput a few months ago which makes her selection in the Queensland squad even more remarkable!
Her mum Cheryl said it was much easier for competitors in the city who could train with coaches almost every day, whereas in regional areas the young athletes had weekly sessions and the rest of the time trained on their own.
Jessica has been training hard every day by herself during the recent school holidays.
“I’m very proud of her for that,” Cheryl said.
Fortunately, the family has a large backyard which enables her to train at home as well as using facilities in Nanango and Kingaroy.
Jessica has been achieving some Personal Bests lately in discus, including a throw of 32.91m.
Her PB in shotput is currently 8.92m.
And her goal?
“I am hoping one day to make it to the Olympics,” Jessica said.
Jessica isn’t the only local young star heading off to Adelaide.
Goomeri P-10 student Eli Richards, from Tansey, will be competing in the U15s Boys discus competition.
Eli trains with South Burnett Little Athletics.
The 2025 Coles Australian Little Athletics Championships will take place on April 26-27 at the SA Athletics Stadium in Adelaide.
More than 500 athletes are expected to compete for individual medals and team trophies.
As well, the latest inductees into the Coles Little Athletics Australia Hall of Fame will be announced on Saturday night.
UPDATE April 28: Jessica Tranter came 3rd in the discus with a throw of 32.22m and 6th in the shot put with a PB of 9.09m. The Queensland team came home with four of the five trophies!
[UPDATED]
