A record number of athletes registered to represent SA at the 2022 Australian Track and Field Championships, which will commence on Saturday afternoon at the Sydney Olympic Park Athletics Centre.

A total of 221 SA athletes registered to compete at the event which will run from March 26 to April 3. 

Check out Team SA here

Find the full entry list and program of events via the Athletics Australia website

Purchase tickets to the event here

Following strong summer seasons, dozens of SA athletes have their eyes firmly placed on the podium at the National Championships, which will be contested by thousands of Australian and International athletes across Open, Under Age and Para events.

Keep up to date with SA team results, photographs and news via the Athletics SA website, Facebook and Instagram (athletics_sa) pages.

Going for Gold

On the Track

Despite being beaten by fellow U20 sprinter Caleb Law at the Chemist Warehouse Melbourne Track Classic last weekend, Saints Athletics Club's Aidan Murphy remains one of the favourites to take out the Open Men's 200m National Title.

The 18-year-old finished 2021 ranked the fastest Open Men's 200m runner in the country (20.64) and since improved his PB, running 20.41 at the State Track and Field Championships to break a long-standing Open Men's 200m State Record.

Murphy holds State Records in the Men's Open, U20, U18 and U16 200m and Open and U20 100m. 

His key competitors across the 200m distance at the National Championships look to be Law, Vinoj De Silva, Connor Diffey, Alex Hartmann and Jack Hale.

Hills District pair Matthew Clarke and Max Stevens will be going head-to-head in the battle for the Open Men's 3000m Steeplechase National Title. 

Olympic Steeplechaser, Clarke, got his Steeplechase season off to a good start, running 8:36.82 at the State Track and Field Championships in February, while Stevens managed 8:30.90 in Melbourne last weekend.

Victorian Ben Buckingham enters the Steeplechase as the number one seed.

Clarke and Stevens will also compete in the Open Men's 5000m, along with fellow SA runners Isaac Heyne - who comes in as the sixth seed - Riley Cocks, Adrian Potter, Paralympian Michael Roeger and Jacob Cocks. 

Several SA runners will also appear in the Open Women's 5000m, including Flinders' Isobel Batt-Doyle - who ran this event at the Tokyo Olympics - and Hills District pair Caitlin Adams and Jessica Pascoe. 

Batt-Doyle finished 2021 as Australia's second ranked 5000m runner (15:04.10) behind NSW's Jessica Hull who will also compete in the 5000m at the National Championships.

Fresh off a Silver Medal at the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships in Oman, Pembroke's Olivia Sandery enters the Women's U20 10,000m Walk as the clear number one seed (45:24.10), ahead of Victoria's Alanna Peart (48:18.00) and NSW's Allanah Pitcher (49:17.00).

Sandery, Peart and Pitcher formed the Australian Women's U20 team in Oman which claimed the Silver Medal.

Sandery has already recorded a 2022 World Athletics U20 Championships qualifier, as has Murphy (100m, 200m and 400m), Darcy Miller (Discus), Marley Raikiwasa (Discus), Jordi McMillan (100m and 200m), Lakara Stallan (200m) and Adam Goddard (1500m).

Athletics SA Emerging Athlete Program (EAP) member, Goddard, will line up in the Open Men's 1500m, as well as the Men's U20 800m, 1500m and 3000m.

He enters the 1500m in form, having ran his World Athletics U20 Championships qualifier 3:47.26 earlier this month.

Goddard will have to compete against a strong line up of other World U20 1500m qualifiers in Peyton Craig, Patrick Cantlon, Cameron Myers and Daniel Kelly in what will be an intriguing race for the U20 National Title.

Saints sprinter McMillan will compete in four events at the National Championships - Women's U20 100m, U20 200m, Open 100m and Open 200m - and will have a tough battle against several World U20 Championships qualifiers.

McMillan ran qualifiers in the 100m and 200m during the summer season, and enters the U20 200m as the second seed behind Queensland's Torrie Lewis.

Pembroke's Stallan also ran a 200m World U20 Championships qualifier (24.33) earlier this year and comes into the strong U20 200m race as the seventh seed, while Layla Kinnane will run as the fifth seed in the Women's U18 400m and Jessica McManus the fifth seed in the Women's U18 800m

The Women's U20 100m looks a strong field with McMillan entering as the ninth seed (11.88), behind fellow World U20 qualifiers Lewis, Taylah Cruttenden, Hayley Reynolds, Olivia Matzer, Olivia Rose Inkster, Aleksandra Stoilova, Georgia Harris and Shola Adeniran. 

After breaking two U14 Men's State Records in the back end of the SA summer season - 800m and 1500m - Saints' Jack Williams is primed for a big National Championships. 

Williams will enter the U15 800m as the number one seed and the U15 1500m as the fourth seed. 

Saints U14 multi-event athlete Ken Ferrante-Tanikawa is a threat to return to SA with a swag of medals.

Ferrante-Tanikawa won 10 Gold Medals at last month's State Track and Field Championships and will compete in six events in Sydney - U14 100m, 90m Hurdles, Pole Vault, Triple Jump, Discus and Javelin. 

He enters the competition as the number one seed in the U14 Javelin and Pole Vault and second in the 90m Hurdles.

Charlotte McAuliffe (Women's U16 100m 200m and 400m), Tessa Ebert (Women's U15 1500m), Thomas Griffiths (Men's U17 200m), Ayden Colbourne (Men's U16 200m), Georgie Fielder (Women's U15 90m Hurdles and 200m Hurdles), Sebastian Richards (Men's U15 3000m Walk), Lachlan Sands (Men's U16 400m), Gman Paye (Men's U17 400m, 200m, 100m), Jonathan Harris (Men's U18 1500m), James Bowling (Men's U15 800m) and Andrew Maenda (Men's U16 100m) are other SA juniors amongst the key podium contenders in Sydney.

As a 15-year-old McAuliffe won the Open Women's 400m State Title last month in 56.14, running past Olympian Kendra Hubbard, and enters each of her National Championship races seeded in the top three. 

Christine Gayen will contest the Open Women's Heptathlon, while Fraser Western and Zac Washington will compete for the U20 Men's Decathlon. 

Multiple National Record holders Angus Hincksman T38 and Jack Netting T/F 35 will both be aiming for Gold on the track in Sydney.

Hincksman is amongst the fastest competitors in the Men's Para U20 800m and 1500m, while Netting will compete in the Open Men's Para 100m, 200m and Long Jump, as will Brayden Davidson T/F36.

Nathan Woods T20 will also run in the Open Men's Para 100m and 200m, while Akeesha Snowden T/F37 will compete in the Open Women's Para 100m and 200m, Darcy Bekric T20 in the Men's U20 Para 100m and 200m, Gabriel Wilson T20 in the Men's U20 Para 100m, 200m and 400m and Keira Post T/F37 in the Women's Open and U17 Para 100m and 200m.

Thomas Mattinson RR2/F32 will have a busy schedule, competing in the Men's U15 Para 100m, Discus, Javelin and Shot Put, while Annie Goldsmith RR2 will compete in the Women's U15 Para 100m.

Over the longer distances Jack White T20 will run in the Open Men's Para 1500m and 800m, while sister Stephanie White T20 will run in the Women's Open Para 800m and 400m.

Saints teenager Aidan Murphy will be hoping to return to SA with an Open Men's 200m Gold Medal.

In the Field

Northern District thrower Lachlan Page enters the Open Men's Discus as the second seed (57.51m), behind Queensland Olympian Matthew Denny (67.02m), while U20 athletes Saints' Darcy Miller and Will Evans will also have a throw in the Open Men's Discus competition. 

Miller will enter the Men's U20 Discus competition as the number one seed (56.36m).

He holds State Records in the Men's U20, U18 and U16 Discus and U18 Shot Put, and has thrown a 2022 World U20 Athletics Championships Discus Qualifier. 

Tea Tree Gully's Marley Raikiwasa has enjoyed an outstanding summer season and enters the Women's U20 and U18 Discus competitions as the number one seed.

She will also contest the Open Women's Discus as the third seed and U18 Shot Put as the second seed.

Raikiwasa holds State Records in the Women's U20, U18 and U16 Discus and U18 Shot Put.

Taylor Larsson of the Northern District Athletics Club will contest Raikiwasa in the Women's U18 Shot Put (third seed) and enters the U17 Discus as the second seed, behind Charlize Goody of Queensland.

Northern District's Noah Schoepf will be going for Gold in the Men's U16 Discus and Hammer Throw, entering the competition as the first and second seed respectively, while he will also compete in the U16 Shot Put competition. 

Older brother Lachlan Schoepf, will compete in the Men's U20 Hammer Throw, U18 Hammer Throw, U18 Shot Put and U18 Discus.

Northern Jets teammate and State U18 Javelin Champion Alanah Gregory will also be aiming for a medal in the Women's U18 Javelin, coming in as the second seed.

Pembroke's Ashley James comes into the Women's U15 Javelin as the fourth seed. 

F21 Discus (31.33m) and Shot Put (11.20m) World Record holder Hugo Taheny will compete in the Open Men's Para Discus and Shot Put, while Sam Paech F37 will compete in the Open Men's Para Discus, Javelin and Shot Put. 

Lillee Wakefield F20 will compete in the Open Women's Hammer Throw, Open Women's Para Discus, Javelin and Shot Put.

Tea Tree Gully's Marley Raikiwasa will compete in the Open Women's, U20 and U18 Discus and the U18 Shot Put.

Through the Air

Across the Open category, Western's Pole Vaulter Jack Downey will be attempting to make it back-to-back Open Men's Pole Vault National titles, after winning Gold last year with a clearance of 5.40m.

Downey enters the Championships as the second seed (5.45m), behind Tokyo Olympian Kurtis Marschall (5.71m). 

Three SA Pole Vaulters - Western's Courtney Smallacombe, Jamie Scroop and Maddie Lawson - will be aiming for the podium in the Open Women's event.

Smallacombe is currently the second ranked Women's Pole Vaulter in the country, behind WA's Nina Kennedy who comes into the event as the clear favourite to claim the Title.

Scroop won the SA Pole Vault Title at last month's State Track and Field Championships, clearing 4.15m.

As they have all season at State level, Northern District's Chelsea Friedrich and Tea Tree Gully's Tryphena Hewett will be going head to head in the National U18 High Jump competition. 

They come into the U18 competition as the top two seeds and both ranked in the top five in Australia for their age group.

Hewett will also compete in the Open Women's and U20 High Jump, and U20 and U18 Pole Vault, while Lawson Jones comes in as the top seed in the Men's U16 Pole Vault competition and Orlanzo Bernhardt the second seed in the Men's U17 Pole Vault.

Another SA High Jumper hoping to return home with Gold is Port Adelaide's Finn Spanagel, who comes into the Men's U14 competition as the top seed, while Joshua Rositano will enter the Men's U15 High Jump as the fourth seed.

2022 Australian Women's U17 Heptathlon Champion, Leila Croker will compete in the U17 Long Jump, 100m Hurdles and Javelin in Sydney, with her best look at a medal coming in the Long Jump event.

Best of luck to all athletes, especially those pulling on the red, yellow and blue singlets! Go Team SA

Northern District's Chelsea Friedrich comes into the Women's U18 High Jump as the equal top seed, along with Tea Tree Gully's Tryphena Hewett.