sport
St Augustine’s College track star Ella Bennett clocks national age record at Cairns Athletics Park
The Year 11 sprinter has put the Far North on the national athletics map ahead of the Queensland All-Schools Championships.
How we reported this
Ella Bennett, a 16-year-old sprinter from St Augustine’s College, ran 11.78 seconds in the 100-metre final at the North Queensland Regional Athletics Meet on Saturday, smashing the Queensland under-17 record by 0.13 seconds. The time also ranks as the fastest ever recorded by a female athlete born in 2010 anywhere in Australia, according to meet officials who reviewed historical Athletics Australia rankings after the race.
Cairns emerging as a pipeline for elite junior talent
Bennett’s run at Cairns Athletics Park, the only synthetic track between Townsville and Thursday Island, has reignited talk about the region’s ability to produce top-end sprinters. The school’s head of athletics, Mark Sullivan, told The Daily Cairns that the program has doubled in size over the past two years, from 24 athletes in 2024 to 52 this season. “We’ve got kids coming from as far as Mareeba and Port Douglas just to train here twice a week,” Sullivan said. “Ella’s result is the biggest individual performance we’ve seen since the school won the Queensland State Championships relay title in 2019.”
The timing matters: the Queensland All-Schools Championships begin in Brisbane on July 28, and Bennett will be chasing a sub-11.7-second time that would put her inside the top 50 senior women in the country. No FNQ athlete has won the 100-metre title at that meet since Smithfield State High’s Liam Greig in 2015.
What’s next for the Far North’s fastest teenager
Bennett will race in the under-18 100-metre and 200-metre events at the FNQ Athletics Carnival on July 20, a final warm-up before the All-Schools competition. Her coach, former Australian under-20 representative Jade Cooper, said Bennett is also being monitored by Athletics Australia’s regional talent identification program, which has held two camps in Cairns since January. “She’s still a year younger than most of the girls she’s beating,” Cooper said. “She could run for the national junior team next year if she stays healthy and keeps this trajectory.”
Bennett’s club, Cairns Athletics Inc., trains at the Esplanade oval on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. New athletes aged 8 to 18 can register through the club’s website; fees start at $120 per season, which covers coaching and track access. The club plans to host a trials day on August 9 for anyone interested in joining the competition squad.