Riddells Creek athletics star Jessie Andrew is on her mark, set and ready to run for Australia at a top international event this week.
The 17-year-old will represent the green and gold for a second time at the IAAF Oceania Melanesian Regional Championships.
Jessie will compete in the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay and medley events and will try to match her haul of two gold medals from last year’s championships.
The budding Olympian started her career as an under-13 at the Keilor Little Athletics Club before transferring to Athletics Essendon to compete at a senior level.
She has represented Victoria many times and is part of the pretigious Athletics Australia under-17 development squad.
And she doesn’t intend to stop there.
“I like the continual motivation to want to go faster and improve myself, and of course the friends you make that are all like-minded,” Jessie told the Leader.
It’s that motivation that sees the Year 11 student travel up to two hours each morning just to get to school at Maribyrnong College as part of its sports academy.
It’s also why it’s no surprise she was chosen as co-captain of the Australian team at the Simplot Games in the US earlier this year.
Jessie’s to-do list still has some unchecked boxes.
“Olympics are the ultimate goal, although it will take a lot of hard work and persistence but I will give it my best shot,” she said.
Jessie is a junior nominee in the Leader Local Sports Stars awards.
Coles Little Athletics Australia acknowledges and pays respect to all traditional custodians of the lands of which we work, run, jump and throw throughout Australia. We pay respect to elders both past, present and emerging.
We are committed to a positive future for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and to honor their ongoing cultural and spiritual connections to this country and recognize the role and value of culture.
Little Athletics Australia
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